M A D E
B Y
M U S I C I A N S
F O R
M U S I C I A N S
MIXDOWNMAG.COM.AU ISSUE 220
AUG 2012
FREE
INTERVIEWED:
BLACK ANGELS
ROAD TESTED:
MARK DRUM YES1 ELECTRONIC KIT CONCEPT SERIES PDP DRUM KIT PEARL REFERENCE PURE DRUM KIT TC ELECTRONIC MECHANIC VOICE TOOLBOX AMPEG MICRO CL AMP STACK FRETKING JERRY DONAHUE SIGNATURE ELECTRIC LAG TRAMONTANE T66A ACOUSTIC
STOPS PRES
AY!
SPECIAL FEATURE
NTH ’ S GIVE O M
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CHROMATICS DAVE WECKL DOM FAMULARO VIRGIL DONATI
MAPEX BLACK PANTHER CHERRY BOMB
JOE BONAMASSA
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JOE BONAMASSA AUSTRALIAN TOUR 01 October PERTH :: Concert Hall www.bocsticketing.com.au 03 October BRISBANE :: QPAC www.qpac.com.au 05 October Sydney :: State Theatre www.ticketmaster.com.au 07 October Newcastle :: Civic Theatre www.ticketek.com.au 09 October Adelaide :: Her Majesty’s Theatre www.bass.net.au 11 October Melbourne :: Palais Theatre www.ticketmaster.com.au
Proudly distributed by: MUSICLINK AUSTRALIA 29 South Corporate Ave. Rowville VIC 3178 P: +3 9765 6565 F: +3 9765 6566 W: www.musiclink.com.au
FORE WORD
- C O N T E N T S 6
GIVEAWAYS
8
NEWS & TOURS
12 PRODUCT NEWS It’s been a frantic and exciting month for Mixdown. First up, you might notice we’re a lookin’ good with a few little design tweaks in this month’s issue. Secondly, we’ve put together the first annual drums and percussion special! This issue we got our hands on some of the newest drumkits to hit our shores, the killer Mark Drum Yes1 Electronic Kit and the Concept Series PDP Kit for starters, amongst an absolute truckload of other drums, hardware and percussion accessories. Our drumming fraternity have been smashing it out to bring you a nice little buyers guide of all the coolest gear going around. So, check it out from page 38.
24 SLIPKNOT JOE BONAMASSA 26 BLACK ANGELS CHROMATICS 28 THOMAS LANG VIRGIL DONATI
We also catch up with dark lords Slipknot, guitar guru Joe Bonamassa amongst a stack of feature drummers who will be showcasing at this years inaugural AUDW weekend and Drumscene Live Australian Tour. A big thanks and a happy 20th anniversary shout out must go to our friends over at AUDW and Drumscene who aligned with us on our special this month. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing their massive drum festival spectacular and road show kick off shortly from August 24 in Melbourne and heading right around the country.
30 DAVE WECKL
Also we must make a special mention to our good friends and long time supporters Electric Factory for giving you the chance to win the very awesome Mapex Black Panther Cherry Bomb Snare. A serious snare that will keep on giving for years to come, both in practice and touring. Full entry details for this awesome Giveaway are found on page 6.
34 ON THE DOWNLOW
In the meantime, tune in, drop out, drum on, Mixdown. Aleksei Plinte Editor In Chief.
DOM FAMULARO 32 UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK
BLACK ANGELS PAGE 26
GOD CLASSIC KEYS BANGIN’ THE TUBS 36 (D)IGITAL (J)OCKEY HOME STUDIO HINTS 38 DRUM SPECIAL 46 ROAD TESTS
PUBLISHER Furst Media
COVER ART Patrick O’Neill
GRAPHIC ARTISTS Michael Cusack, Baly Gaudin
EDITOR IN CHIEF Aleksei Plinte mixdown@beat.com.au
LOGO DESIGN www.furstmedia.com.au
EDITORIAL CO-ORDINATOR Lachlan Kanoniuk
MIXDOWN OFFICE 3 Newton Street Richmond VIC 3121 Phone: (03) 9428 3600 Fax: (03) 9428 3611
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Patrick O’Neill
ADVERTISING Aleksei Plinte, Ronnit Sternfein
CONTRIBUTORS Peter Hodgson, Rob Gee, Nick Brown, Adrian Violi, Michael Hart, Rod Whitfield
VIRGIL DONATI PAGE 28
CAKE WECKL DAVE PAGE 2 PAGE 28 30 8
JOE BONAMASSA PAGE 24
AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 5
- M I X D O W N G I V E A W AY S LAST MONTH’S WINNER
AUGUST GIVEAWAY
A big thank you to all the entries we had both online and via the magazine, it was quite surprising to see how much excitement was generated for the awesome little Hammond Pro-44H Melodion. One serious piece of kit with that authentic Hammond tone we can now see why it was so highly desired by so many musicians around the country. A massive thank you to both Musico, the Australian distributors of Hammond and Carlingford Music Centre (NSW) who sell them intore, the other half of this awesome competition. By all accounts from our winner Carlingford Music Centre is a great store with heaps of selection and friendly staff which is always great to hear! Congratulations again to Tarita Richmond from Enmore, NSW (as pictured). Tarita answered correctly last month with the answer Depeche Mode, as well as liking Mixdown on Facebook and the respective post.
HAMMOND PRO-44H MELODION GIVEAWAY
PG. 6
MIXDOWN NO. 220
“Thank you so much for the new keys. It’s tingling to the ears. I have never heard a melodion close to it. Very smooth, beautiful, vintage, powerful and sexy. Everything you want in an instrument. I can’t wait to use it at the next Snowale gig.” Check Snowale tunes at facebook.com/snowale
AUGUST 2012
MAPEX BLACK PANTHER CHERRY BOMB 13X5.5” So this is another cracking giveaway, a prize that’s going to take a little bit of work to win, however well worth the entry process. To win the very cool Mapex Black Panther Cherry Bomb 13x5.5” snare as reviewed in our Drum and Percussion Special and distributed by long time Mixdown supporters and very good friends Electric Factory. Complete the following two entry steps and this bad boy could be coming home with you . Step 1. Head to our Facebook page (www. facebook.com/mixdownmagazine), like our page, then like and/or share our pic of the Mapex Black Panther Cherry Bomb 13x5.5” posted on August 1.
Step 2. Tell us who your favourite Mapex endorser is and why (25 words or less) and list another Mapex Electric Factory product as reviewed in our Drums and Percussion Special, starting from page 38. Best of luck! Email your answers to mixdown@beat.com.au with your full name, address and contact telephone number for your chance to win this amazing prize. One entry per person. Australian residents only. Best of luck! *Competition disclaimer* All Mixdown Magazine competition winners agree to having their loacation, name and photo with themselves and their prize published in Mixdown Magazine and online. All entrants must be residents of Australia.
CONCERTS / WORKSHOPS / DRUM EXPO since 1993
ele el lee
proudly presented by
DAVE WECKL Chick Corea, Mike Stern
DOM FAMULARO International Educator
OTV - ON THE VIRG
GRAHAM MORGAN Australian Jazz Icon
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JOEL PRIME 2011 Best Up & Coming Drummer
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FOR FURTHER DETAILS GO TO TO: www.drumtek.com.au
CALL DRUMTEK: 03 9482 5550
PETE LOCKETT Multi-Percussionist
DAVE BLACK
Author,, Vice President & Editor - Alfred Music
ULTIMATE DRUM S ’ IA
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OVER 40 24th, 25th & 26th AUG 2012 PERFORMANCES Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre
THOMAS LANG Session, Author, Clinician
AUSTR AL
Ph Pho hoto By
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NIV E R S A RY
HUNTING GROUNDS Bad boys from the ‘Rat, Hunting Grounds, are set to launch their much-anticipated debut album. After new single Flaws copped a right royal flogging on triple j since its release, buzz has been building for Hunting Grounds’ first full-length effort. To celebrate the upcoming LP, the lads are hitting the road for a massive national tour this month.
MEREDITH MUSIC FESTIVAL
After a stunning instalment last year, Aunty Meredith looks set to deliver the goods again this year. As a tasty teaser, two artists have been announced to coincide with the opening of the ballot. Buzzworthy talent
TOUR DATES:
August 3 – Elsewhere Bar, Gold Coast QLD August 4 – X and Y Bar, Brisbane QLD August 5 – The Great Northern, Byron Bay NSW August 8 – Plantation, Coffs Harbour NSW August 9 – Yours and Owls, Wollongong NSW August 10 – Good God Small Club, Sydney NSW August 11 – Transit Bar, Canberra ACT August 16 – Prince of Wales Hotel, Bunbury WA August 17 – Amplifier, Perth WA August 18 – Rocket Bar, Adelaide SA August 24 – Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC August 25 – The Toff in Town, Melbourne VIC
Grimes will be hitting the Supernatural Amphitheatre this December, as well as iconic reunited Australian post-punk heroes The Sunnyboys. Stay tuned for more artist announcements – it’s gonna be huge.
FESTIVAL DATES:
SEEKAE
December 7-9 – Supernatural Amphitheatre, Meredith VIC
WEEZER
THE DELTA RIGGS & MONEY FOR ROPE
Brace yourselves for some Double Vision, with the announcement of dual Melbourne rockers The Delta Riggs & Money For Rope hitting the road this August for the Double Vision Tour. Kick-started by the release of Counter Revolution and the corresponding Pyramid Rock Unearthed win late last year, The Delta Riggs have
toured relentlessly. Hot on the heels of “This Epic Tour” with Kingswood and Damn Terran, Money For Rope are used to transforming crowds into an exuberant force on par with the band’s own rabid vigour, including those at Cherry Rock, Community Cup and Splendour In The Grass in 2011. Get ready for a double dose of fine rock and roll.
TOUR DATES:
August 15 – Beach Road Hotel, Bondi NSW August 17 – Side Bar, Newcastle NSW August 18 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney NSW August 19 – Transit Bar, Canberra ACT August 23 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC
August 24 – The Loft, Warrnambool VIC August 25 – Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC August 30 – Barsoma, Brisbane QLD August 31 – Shark Bar, Gold Coast QLD
Fresh from slaying it at this year’s Splendour In The Grass, our finest electronica proponents have announced a headline Melbourne appearance. It’s been a transformative year for Seekae, with the trio introducing vocals at their stellar Vivid LIVE performance at Sydney Opera House. Things have gone from strength to strength after the critical acclaim for their record of last year +DOME. Expect to hear album highlights as well as new material on their east coast tour. TOUR DATES:
August 31 – The Corner, Melbourne VIC September 1 – The Zoo, Brisbane QLD September 6,7 – The Basement, Sydney NSW
We’ve been waiting and waiting for over 16 years (kinda felt like the world had turned and left us here), but now finally the mighty Weezer have announced their long-overdue return to Australian shores. The tour will see Weezer perform a selection of greatest hits then a full performance of their much-adored self-titled debut – better known as The Blue Album. TOUR DATES:
January 13 – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane QLD January 16 – Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne VIC January 19 – Entertainment Centre, Sydney NSW January 23 – Perth Arena, Perth WA
The best of Slipknot 1999-2012 Featuring 19 tracks tracing the journey from (sic) to Snuff
OUT NOW ALSO AVAILABLE - ltd super deluxe
3 disc edition feat full live show, expanded art, videos and more slipknot1.com au.roadrunnerrecords.com
PG. 8
MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
Post your tribute to Slipknot for a chance to win a ‘Vault Pack’ featuring promo items spanning Slipknot’s career
AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 9
FALLS MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL
IOWA Iowa play it good, and they play it loud. Making a name for themselves in the Melbourne underground, the band are set to spread forth their fuzzy goodness across the east coast this August. The tour comes after the launch of Iowa’s sick new LP Never Saw It Coming, out now digitally, on CD and on yellow vinyl. TOUR DATES:
August 16 – FBI Social, Sydney NSW August 17 – X&Y Bar, Brisbane QLD August 18 – Tyms Guitars instore, Brisbane QLD August 18 – The Waiting Room, Brisbane QLD August 31 – Gasometer, Melbourne VIC
BIG DAY OUT
OH MERCY
Hot Chip
Following on from a pretty freakin’ large first announcement, the stream of top shelf talent continues to join this year’s Falls Music And Arts Festival. The second announcement brings Bombay Bicycle Club, First Aid Kit, Hilltop Hoods, Hot Chip, Maximo Park, Millions and Totally Enormous Extinct
Dinosaurs into the fold. These seven artists join the already announced acts Beach House, Best Coast, Boy And Bear, Coolio, Sampology presents A Falls Anniversary Live AV Show, SBTRKT, The Flaming Lips and The Vaccines. By our count, there are still around 66 acts to be announced, so stay tuned!
FESTIVAL DATES:
December 28-January 1 – Lorne, VIC
December 29-January 1 – Marion Bay, TAS
DIE! DIE! DIE! Those prolific Kiwi darlings Die! Die! Die! ain’t slowing down anytime soon. Fresh off the release of their ripper fourth studio LP Harmony, the dynamic trio will bring their relentless touring ethos to Australia for a run of dates this month. Rounded out by bassist Michael Logie (The Mint Chicks, F In Math, Opossom), be sure to catch Die! Die! Die!’s face-melting live show when they hit town. TOUR DATES:
August 22 – The Great Northern, Newcastle NSW August 23 – The Standard, Surry Hills NSW August 24 – Yours & Owls, Wollongong NSW August 25 – Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne VIC August 30 – The Zoo, Brisbane QLD August 31 – Elsewhere, Gold Coast QLD September 1 – The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba QLD
S
SENT E R P Y L D ROU
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PG. 10
MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
After a fairly shaky, but still awesome, 2012, Big Day Out has announced an incredibly big 2013 roster of talent. Hitting the country’s most storied festival early next year will be Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Animal Collective, The Bloody Beetroots, Band Of Horses, Kaskade, B.O.B, Sleigh Bells, Foals, Death Grips, Alabama Shakes, 360, Crystal Castles, Pretty Lights, OFF!, Grinspoon, Against Me!, Gary Clark Jr, Nicky Romero, Morgan Page, Logo, Every Time I Die, Delta Spirit, Childish Gambino, Me, Hunting Grounds, Jeff The Brotherhood, Adventure Club, Jagwar Ma, House vs Hurricane, Avalanche City, Toucan, Helena, Nina Las Vegas and Sampology. We’re pretty bloody excited, to say the least. FESTIVAL DATES:
January 18 – Sydney Showground, Sydney NSW January 20 – Parklands, Gold Coast QLD January 25 – Adelaide Showground, Adelaide SA January 26 – Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne VIC January 28 – Claremont Showground, Perth WA
Oh Mercy, one of Australia’s foremost beacons of pristine songwriting, are gearing up to rub in a bit of Deep Heat this month with their third full-length LP. To celebrate, the band are hitting the road for a massive national tour. After hitting the States to plug away in the studio and tour extensively, the band led by Alex Gow have returned to unleash the fruits upon the ears of their local fanbase. Deep Heat is set for release Friday August 24. TOUR DATES:
September 21 – The Zoo, Brisbane QLD September 22 – Joe’s Waterhole, Sunshine Coast QLD September 26 – Heritage Hotel, Wollongong NSW September 27 – Cambridge, Newcastle NSW September 28 – ANU Bar, Canberra ACT September 29 – The Standard, Sydney NSW September 30 – Clarendon Hotel, Katoomba NSW October 4 – Settlers Tavern, Margaret River WA October 5 – Norfolk Hotel, Fremantle WA Saturday 6th October 6 – Bakery Artage, Perth WA October 11 – The Gov, Adelaide SA October 13 – Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC October – Republic Hotel, Hobart TAS October – Bended Elbow, Geelong VIC October 25 – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne VIC October 27 – Railway Club, Darwin NT
LANG
Photo By F. Desmaele
Photo Courtesy of DW Drums
THOMAS
DAVE
WECKL
DOM
FAMULARO
MELBOURNE - 24, 25 & 26 August Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre Ph: (03) 9482 5550 CANBERRA - 28 August Canberra Southern Cross Club: Ph: (02) 6282 3199 SYDNEY - 29 August Parramatta Leagues Club Ph: (02) 9211 1700 or (02) 9635 5552 ADELAIDE - 30 August The Gov Ph: (08) 8212 4827 or (08) 8371 1884 PERTH - 31 August - Methodist Ladies’ College Hadley Hall Ph: (08) 9204 7577 BRISBANE - 2 September Kedron Wavell Services Club Ph: (07) 3250 6363 Tickets also available at www.moshtix.com.au , 1300 GET TIX (438 849), on your mobile moshtix.mobi FOR MORE DETAILS PHONE: (03) 9482 3363 or Go to: www.drumscene.com.au CO - HOSTS :
EGNATER AMPLIFICATION ACTIVATES OWNERS CLUB ONLINE submission form at www.egnateramps.com, attach a picture of yourself, your band or your Egnater equipment (preferably with you and your amp!) and send it in. Your bio and pictures will then be featured on the site! Include your thoughts about your equipment and Egnater will share it with the world.
BLUE TIKI USB MICROPHONE Whether you are in a working band, or just love to jam in your garage, join Egnater Amplification’s Owners Club to showcase your love of tone! It’s free to join, all you need to do is complete the website
For more information on the Egnater range of products, phone CMC Music on (02) 9905 2511 or visit www.cmcmusic.com.au
FAITH NAKED SERIES
The new Tiki is the world’s first USB microphone that mimics the intelligence of human hearing by focusing on desired sounds, minimising background noise and knowing when to mute altogether. Tiki’s two modes give any Skype user, podcaster or musician the versatility to quickly choose the best option in any situation. First, Intelligent Speech Mode brings your voice to the forefront of a conference call or chat while noisecancelling technology simultaneously minimises unwanted, competing background noise. Natural
Recording Mode captures a wide range of sources from vocals to acoustic guitar, recording highfidelity audio with exceptional clarity. Tiki sets a new standard for crystal clear audio for wherever you go. For more information on the Blue Microphones range of products, phone Amber Technology on 1800 251 367 or visit www.ambertech.com.au
D-TRONIC ELECTRONIC DRUMS The budget end of the electronic drumkit market has been a hot-bed of activity for a few years now, and while the high end mainstays keep the pros entertained, some have had budget-conscious bedroom blasters in its sights. After a couple of years of huge success in Europe, the German designed D-Tronic kits entered the Australian market with a bang in late 2010. The D-tronic Electronic drumkits provide the perfect balance of quality, features and pricing and are a great alternative to traditional acoustic kits for any aspiring drummer . Packed with great features, easy to move around, and with headphones will keep the neighbours from complaining! The D-Tronic includes everything you need – a drum stool, set of headphones, drumsticks and a stick bag. Sorted! For more information on the D-Tronic range of products, contact Australasian Music Supplies on (03) 9549 1500 or visit www.austmusic.com.au
PEAVEY AMPKIT LINK Peavey Electronics and leading iPhone applications developer Agile Partners have joined forces to launch AmpKit, an unparalleled guitar amp and effects iPhone application, and AmpKit LiNK, a high fidelity audio interface for iOS devices. Together, AmpKit and AmpKit LiNK provide musicians of all skill levels with a powerful and convenient way to jam with high quality tones anytime and anywhere. AmpKit LiNK is an iPhone, iPod touch (except first gen) and iPad interface for electric guitar, bass, or any line level source, with an output that can be connected to headphones, powered speakers or a PA. Unlike unpowered guitar interfaces that suffer from feedback when using headphones, AmpKit Link is a powered device with circuitry that virtually eliminates feedback. AmpKit Link is the first guitar interface that was specifically designed to provide solutions for the iPhone platform.
For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts. com.au
PG. 12
MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
The stripped-back Naked instruments have been designed to offer the very essence of a Faith Guitar at a price that everyone can afford. However, these are not ‘cheap’ Faiths. Each Faith Naked consists of a Solid Engelmann Spruce top and Solid Mahogany back and sides; a two-stage satin finish all over; a rosewood fingerboard, bridge and headplate; chrome plated Machineheads; and a 2mm abalone soundhole rosette. The Electro Cutaway FKV Venus model will feature the same Shadow PerformerTuner preamp and
Nanoflex pickup found on the regular models. The first Faith Naked shipment has arrived and there are three different models to choose from – the FKV Faith Naked Venus, the FKN Faith Naked Neptune Baby Jumbo, and the Faith Naked Mercury Parlour. For more information on the Faith Naked Series, phone Amber Technology on 1800 251 367 or visit www.ambertech.com.au
AUSTRALIA’S ULTIMATE DRUMMERS WEEKEND
2012 marks the milestone 20th Anniversary of the mighty Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend. To launch the huge 20th birthday celebrations, more than a few special events are taking place. Australia’s first Drumming Boot Camp, featuring Thomas Lang, will take place before AUDW, with two Boot Camps taking place before AUDW. Also taking place as part of the AUDW celebrations will be the spectacular return of On The Verge – OTV, featuring Virgil Donati, Phil Turcio, Simon Hosford and Doug Shreeve. This exclusive OTV reunion concert will be staged on Friday August 24 at 8pm. Then AUDW will
again feature an amazing weekend of concerts and workshops featuring the world’s best – including Dave Weckl, Thomas Lang, Virgil Donati, John Riley Trio, Dom Famularo, Graham Morgan Trio, Dave Black, Alex Pertout and Pete Lockett – just to mention a few. The 20th AUDW event will be the largest drum festival in their 20 year history. Be there to join in the milestone celebrations! August 24-26 – Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre, Melbourne VIC. For more information on AUDW head to www.drumtek.com.au
20 Years of Aggression We proudly celebrate two decades of the most relentless, aggressive high-gain guitar tone, ever. The Peavey速 6505速 continues its reign as the amplifier of choice for the most influential artists.
A mp lified. 速
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Learn why the 6505速 is the sound of modern metal at WWW.PEAVEY.COM/6505
Ph: 1300 134 400
TC ELECTRONIC BH250 BASS HEAD
SOLID STATE LOGIC ALPHA-LINK MX AUDIO CONVERTERS
Alpha-Link MX is the first of a new generation of SSL A-D/D-A converters that deliver superior SSL audio quality in an affordable format for the serious project studio. The new generation SSL converters build on the reputation of the highly respected larger AlphaLink SX and AX models which are used in leading commercial recording facilities across the world alongside SSL’s AWS and Duality consoles. The AlphaLink MX range consists of two different 1 U units that can be used individually or combined to create larger systems. Each unit features 64 channel digital audio I/O via Fibre Optic MADI In/Out connections which can be used to connect to any suitably equipped
MADI device including SSL’s own MadiXtreme, MX4 and Delta-Link computer audio interfaces, or to cascade multiple MX units. The ‘Alpha-Link MX 164’ has 16 analogue inputs and 4 analogue outputs, making it an ideal 16 channel capture device with 4 outputs for artist and studio monitoring.
With this compact, low-end wonder you get a massive 250 watts of power and a tone to die for, but it also adds ultimate versatility via the unique TonePrint feature and a built-in bass tuner that works on anything from 4 to 6 strings. BH250 is so compact that it will fit in the pocket of your gig bag, and at just 4 lbs., the weight is hardly going to be noticeable. Whether you need a bass head at a rehearsal space, at home
for practicing, for gigging at small to medium-sized venues or all of the above, the BH250 is the perfect, portable solution. For more information on the TC Electronic range of products, phone Amber Technology on 1800 251 367 or visit www.ambertech.com.au
XTREME MUSICAL INSTRUMENT BAGS For more information on the Solid State Logic range of products, phone Amber Technology on 1800 251 367 or visit www.ambertech.com.
GOTYE JOINS ERNIE BALL FAMILY
Xtreme bags and cases have been protecting musical instruments around Australia for almost a decade, and they continue to be one of the best value for money options on the market. With a huge range available to suit most instruments and in most popular sizes – guitars, drum kits, hardware, brass and woodwind and accessories - you are sure to find suitable protection for your baby and the assorted goodies you have to carry around. With varying degrees of padding,
Ernie Ball is proud to announce that Australian multiinstrumentalist and songwriter Gotye, currently enjoying the international success of his worldwide number one hit ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, is now a member of the Ernie Ball family of artists, joining Angus Young, Keith Richards, Slash, Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, Paul McCartney, Metallica, The Edge, Pete Townshend and a host of highly respected
musicians who have found Ernie Ball strings to be the ideal voice for their craftsmanship. Onya Wally!
The PV Series, one of the most enduring loudspeaker enclosures from Peavey, is now powered with class D technology. Peavey proudly debuts the PV 115D and PV 215D, two lightweight and portable loudspeaker enclosures, utilising Peavey’s legendary loudspeaker and class D power amp technology to deliver unparalleled performance and value. A long tradition in sound reinforcement, the PV Series enclosures are housed in durable wooden, carpetcovered enclosures with a built-in pole mount. The new PV powered enclosures deliver 400 watts of basspounding, distortion-free sound utilising Peavey’s DDT compression.
For more information on the Ernie Ball range of products, phone CMC Music on (02) 9905 2511 or visit www.cmcmusic.com.au
For more information on the Peavey range of products, phone Audio Products Group on (02) 9669 3477 or visit www.audioproducts.com.au
mute and VLE and VPF filters with footswitch control. Other features, already appreciated by Little Mark users, include a simple and effective 4-band EQ, effects loop, and level control and pre/post EQ switch for the XLR DI output. For more information on the Markbass range of products, phone CMC Music on (02) 9905 2511 or visit www.cmcmusic.com.au
EVANS BLACK CHROME DRUM HEADS
MARK DRUM YES KIT
and desires a new, attractive aesthetic with a punchy tone. For drummers who want both “the look” AND “the sound,” the Evans Black Chrome drumheads are the first sleek, black mirror-like 2-ply heads that deliver a robust tone, controlled sustain with exceptional ease of tuning. The two-ply heads consist of a 7mm optically clear film over an 8mm black film, for exceptionally strong durability and the sleek, mirrorlike appearance. The combination of these opposing films controls sustain and provides accentuated midto-low frequency response.
Mark Drum’s flagship electronic drum kit – YES – is now shipping to Australian music stores. Heralding a departure from the space saving modelling and compression techniques used on most currently available electronic drum kits, Mark Drum’s YES kit employs full frequency 44.1khz binaural round robin multi sampling at up to 512 levels of sensitivity to achieve maximum acoustic realism, and patented ‘smart pad’ sensor technology to provide the ultimate in accurate and reliable pad response. For more information on the Mark Drum range of products, phone CMC Music on (02) 9905 2511 or visit www.cmcmusic.com.au PG. 14
MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
For more information on Xtreme Musical Instrument Bags, contact Australasian Music Supplies on (03) 9549 1500 or visit www.austmusic.com.au
PEAVEY PV 115D & PV 215D LOUDSPEAKERS
MARKBASS BIG BANG BASS AMP
Just over a decade ago, Marco De Virgiliis started pioneering small, lightweight amps and the Markbass Little Mark heads started a new era in bass amplification, inspiring many other companies to follow their lead. Now, you’ll be amazed that such a warm, rich and explosive sound comes from an amp smaller than the groundbreaking Little Mark heads And – despite its small size – the Big Bang is packed with extra features that customers have been asking for: aux in, headphone output with level control, plus
protection and pockets, the Xtreme range of bags will suit any level of musician from a beginning student to a regular gigging muso, and everything in between.
Evans is excited to announce the launch of their Evans Black Chrome series of drumheads, ideal for the Rock/ Metal/Progressive drummer who hits hard, plays fast
For more information on the Evans range of products, contact D’addario Australia on (03) 8761 6293 or email sales@daddario.com.au
YOU ROCK GUITAR
BLACKSTAR ID SERIES AMPLIFIERS
What is the You Rock Guitar? The You Rock Guitar is a state-of-the-art digital guitar – it combines an incredibly fast and accurate MIDI guitar controller with a powerful synthesiser in a compact, travel-friendly design. It features a full 22 Fret Touch Sensitive fingerboard and plays just like your everyday axe! The Original You Rock Guitar (YRG1000 Gen1) was the brainchild of Inspired Instruments Inc inventor, founder, and President Cliff Elion who was driven by his desire to find a solution for guitarists who lacked access to reliable and affordable MIDI guitars. Following a year and a half of Gen1 production, Following the launch of their groundbreaking new ID Series of innovative programmable amplifiers, Blackstar are introducing two new, smaller Wattage models – ID:15 and ID:30. In the five years since its launch, Blackstar has led the way in the innovation of guitar amplification. The ID Series represents the culmination of more than seven years technical research and development. These amps have an intuitive control set like a traditional amp, but have
the versatility of programmability. The unique controls allow guitarists to custom design their own sound, store it and then have the confidence that the amp will perform in a live environment.
For more information on the You Rock Guitar, phone National Audio Systems on 1800 441 440 or visit www.nationalaudio.com.au
AUDIO-TECHNICA BT03 HEADPHONES Audio-Technica has launched their range of Bluetooth headphones in Australia with the BT03 headset. The headset features 3D Special Surround capability that will allow you to control your music and the volume levels both efficiently and smoothly. Audio-Technica has drawn on their microphone technology; an omnidirectional condenser microphone turns the BT03 in to a hands free kit. The BT03 works with all smart phones with Bluetooth capability, including iPhones, Samsung and HTC. The BT03 is great for busy people who don’t want to be constrained by their cables.
For more information on the Blackstar range of products, phone National Audio Systems on 1800 441 440 or visit www.nationalaudio.com.
JAM WITH PAUL GILBERT Wanna jam onstage with one of the world’s fastest gutiarists? Here’s your chance to go head-to-head with Paul Gilbert while he is here to carry out his full masterclass Australian tour. To enter, simply record yourself jamming along to a Paul Gilbert song, upload it to your YouTube or Vimeo account and name it “Thump Music Jam With Paul Gilbert Competition”, put your ticket ID, name and state in the info. Easy! The winner will be then chosen by the most amount of likes on the Thump Music Facebook page (www.facebook.com/THUMPMUSIC). If you haven’t picked up a ticket yet, simply visit www.thumpmusic.com.au
the YRG-1000 Gen2 was born. Improvements on both the firmware and hardware transformed the YRG-1000 into a more accurate and reliable MIDI instrument. All the YRG-1000 sounds were replaced with higher quality sounds recorded and produced by a professional audio house.
For more information Audio-Technica on the range of products, contact TAG on (02) 9519 0900 or visit www.tag.com.au
AUDIO-TECHNICA PRO500MK2 High performance professional DJ monitoring headphones at a great price. The highly anticipated Pro500MK2 has finally arrived on Australian shores in Early Feb 2012. With the 50th anniversary models extremely limited the Pro500Mk2 will provide many audio lovers a professional monitor headphone with huge drivers, extreme comfort and newly designed ear cups giving them a much less bulky feel. Available in matte red or black, these headphone simply look amazing. The PRO500MK2 also includes a detachable straight and coiled cord, making them user friendly and indestructible. The Pro500mk2 is Currently on display at the Audio-Technica Lounge. Perfect for the professional or for jamming at home. The swivel cups, adjustable headband, rugged and fold-up design, make these headphones perfect for performing.
MASTERCLASS DATES: October 8 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane QLD October 10 – C3 Theatre, Sydney NSW October 11 – 360 Theatre, Lower Plenty VIC October 13 – UTAS Conservatorium Of Music, Hobart TAS October 15 – Star Theatre, Adelaide SA October 17 – Hale School, Perth WA
HARTKE A70 DAVID ELLEFSON SIGNATURE EDITION BASS AMPLIFIER The A70 is a powerful bass combo that features a matched 12-inch aluminium bass speaker in a specially designed cabinet that can be used in a typical flat floor position or in its special “kickback” position for increased high end clarity and sound dispersion. Delivering 70 watts to its 12-inch aluminium bass driver, this versatile bass combo is perfect for use in small venues or home recording studios. Plus, the CD input and dedicated headphone output make it an ideal practice amp. Also, with professional features like 7-band graphic EQ for finer tone control, a variable limiter, XLR balanced outputs, passive and active inputs and an effects loop, the A70 is as comprehensive as it is versatile.
For more information on the Hartke range of products, phone Electric Factory on (03) 9474 1000 or visit www.elfa.com.au
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For more information Audio-Technica on the range of products, contact TAG on (02) 9519 0900 or visit www.tag.com.au
GROVER ALLMAN PRO PICKS
‘Pro Picks’ by Grover Allman is an exciting new release of quality guitar picks designed especially for the professional guitarist. Pro Picks have been designed with guitarists in mind and provide the perfect pick for every guitarist. These premium quality picks are available in a huge variety of gauges, materials,
colours and shapes including the Celluloid, Vintage, Delrinex, G-Poly and Nylon ranges. For more information on the Grover Allman range of products, visit www.groverallman.com
AUGUST 2012
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KORG KRONOS X MUSIC WORKSTATION
DRUMCRAFT SERIES 7 DRUMSETS
The Kronos X Music Workstation, the next generation of Kronos, is the single instrument designed for all creative situations: for live performing musicians; for artists creating in a studio or computer-based production environment; and for musicians and sound designers seeking the ultimate synthesiser. In creating Kronos X, Korg have listened to many musicians and have heard their requests. And Kronos X delivers. Since the Kronos appeared, Kronos Sound Library expansions have continued to be released. In
order to let you take full advantage of these libraries, which offer selections with a different flavour than the preload programs in the Kronos, the Kronos X doubles both the PCM RAM capacity to approximately 2GB and the SSD capacity to 62GB. For more information on the the Korg range of products, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au
ZOOM Q2HD Drumcraft Series 7 Drumsets, based on the awardwinning Drumcraft Series 8, are made of the same high-class materials but now wrapped in eye-catching polycarbonate-coverings that produce complex light reflections and have a unique look. You still have your choice of maple or birch shells but now there is Liquid Lava with black nickel hardware or Liquid Chrome with satin chrome hardware to grab your audience’s attention. Like the Drumcraft Series 8 the toms are equipped with Zero Gravity tom mounts buffered with four rubber gaskets preventing any contact to
the shell for an optimal resonance of the drum. No resonance killing metal to metal contact. The hinged memory lock is part of the tom bracket and completes the dainty yet rigid design.
Zoom brought brilliant HD video and stereo sound to your movies with the Q3HD. Now, with the Q2HD handy Video Recorder, there’s only one handheld camcorder with both onboard Mid-Side stereo recording and live streaming capabilities. In addition, the Q2HD features an upgraded camera sensor, enhanced user interface and much more for capturing and sharing great looking videos that sound better than ever. With its condenser microphones in 30° to 150° Mid-Side stereo configuration, the Q2HD gives you natural depth and accurate imaging. From live musical performances, rehearsals and recitals to journalism, education, sports and travel, the Q2HD’s pristine audio is so realistic your movies will let you relive the moment over and over again.
For more information on the Drumcraft range of products contact Dynamic Music on (02) 9939 1299 or visit www.drumcraftdirect.com.au
GROVER ALLMAN CUSTOM GUITAR PICK DESIGNER APP
For more information on the Zoom range of products contact Dynamic Music on (02) 9939 1299 or visit www.zoom.com
Grover Allman is bursting with excitement about the release of their new Custom Guitar Pick Designer App. It is free to download from the App Store now. No need for a computer, now you can order your very own custom printed guitar picks directly from your iPhone. The app features easy to follow step-by-step instructions. Simply take a photo, upload from your gallery or log in with Facebook and select an image from your albums. Use your fingers to pinch and drag the image into place using the onscreen pick as a
guide. Select your pick material, gauge, shape and quantity then check out in one easy step. Ordering has never been easier. It’s time to be one of the rock stars with your own custom printed guitar picks!
GODIN SHIFTER CLASSIC 4 BASS
For more information on the Grover Allman range of products, visit www.groverallman.com
LOS CABOS DRUMSTICKS
Los Cabos Drumsticks are a Canadian company located in the province of New Brunswick, their name reflecting the unique qualities of their home province. Finally these highly soughtafter sticks are available in Australia. Every dowel is hand inspected to ensure that the grain is straight and free from any defects. Only then lathed into a Los Cabos Drumstick, hand rolled and weighed. Los Cabos use sustainable wood sources and ensuring that as much of the tree as PG. 18
MIXDOWN NO. 220
possible is utilised. They even heat the factory using manufacturing waste as firewood!
AUGUST 2012
For more information on the Los Cabos range of products contact Dynamic Music on (02) 9939 1299 or visitwww.dynamicmusic.com.au
The Godin Shifter Classic 4 further expands the highly regarded Shifter series of basses, bringing to the line a classic PJ pickup configuration for a more retro style and sound. This bass guitar melds Godin innovation with classic styling producing a familiar looking instrument with improved features. This Shifter bass features a solid Canadian Laurentian basswood body, a rock maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard options and a double-function bridge to either string through the body or the bridge. When strings are run through the body of your instrument as opposed to being held at the back of the bridge, string pressure is directed downward forcing the saddles into the body. Therefore saddle/bridge/body coupling is enhanced , giving you a more snappy tone.
For those who love slapping. Electronics include a set of Godin Passive PJ pickups controlled by a Volume knob, a Tone knob, and a 4-way pickup selector switch that toggles between bridge, neck, parallel and series configurations. Combining the pickups in series giving a much fatter tone than the usual parallel. The Shifter Classic is available in Crème Brulee high-gloss and Black Burst transparent semi-gloss finishes.
For more information on the Godin range of products contact Dynamic Music on (02) 9939 1299 or visit www.godindirect.com.au
Beam it! Customize your BG250 with Signature Tones
The new ultra-light BG250 bass combo features artist TonePrint®, an integrated bass tuner and tons of power. Learn more at: www.ambertech.com.au/tcelectronic
toneprint®artists URIAH DUFFY FF FY F Y WHITESNAKE AK KE
NATHAN EAST ERIC CLAPTON
JANEK GWIZDALA
MICHAEL SHUMAN QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
MARK KING LEVEL 42
GAIL ANN DORSEY DAVID BOWIE
ROSCOE BECK LEONARD COHEN
CHARLES C CAVE AVE WHITE LIES ES
JON THORNE LAMB
CHRIS MINH DOKY MIKE STERN
Experience the magic at your nearest authorised tc electronic bass dealer ACT Davis Wheeler Music
Tel: 1800 251 367 sales@ambertech.com.au
1 800 765 263
NSW Turramurra Music 02 9449 8487 Guitar Factory Parramatta 02 9635 5552 Muso’s Corner 02 4929 2829
QLD Guitar Brothers Guitar World
1 300 365 476 07 5596 2258
VIC Drum Power Bass Centre
03 9720 4581 03 9696 6561
WA Concept Music Kosmic Sound
AUGUST 2012
08 9381 2277 1 800 466 157
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 19
EVANS G14 DRUM HEADS
BASS LEGEND GEEZER BUTLER JOINS THE HARTKE FAMILY Hartke are pleased to announce the addition of legendary bassist Geezer Butler to its family of artists. Best known as the co-founder of the iconic band Black Sabbath, Butler has been a mainstay in the hard rock community for over 40 years. A prolific songwriter, Butler is credited with being the first bassist to experiment with alternate tunings, wrote most of Black Sabbath’s famous lyrics and was influential in creating the band’s now famous sound. He has also served as a major influence playing with Heaven and Hell, and his own project, GZR. Geezer joins a stable of Hartke players including Victor Wooten, Billy Sheehan, Jack Bruce (Cream), David Ellefson (Megadeth), Frank Bello (Anthrax) and Will Lee (Late Show With David Letterman) to name a few.
For more information on the Hartke range of products, phone Electric Factory on (03) 9474 1000 or visit www.elfa.com.au
The Evans G14 series of tom and snare drum heads. The G14 features a single ply of 14mm film that delivers unprecedented durability, combined with the dynamic response of a single-ply drumhead. Ideal for use in high-volume performance situations, the G14 can withstand heavy-hitting while projecting through the mix to provide a full, aggressive sound. The G14 is available in both clear and coated white versions, sizes
6”-20”. The Evans proprietary white coating provides additional warmth of tone. The clear version provides a full frequency response for maximum projection. For more information on the Evans range of products, contact D’addario Australia on (03) 8761 6293 or email sales@daddario.com.au
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF MUSIC
MEINL CLASSICS CUSTOM EXTREME METAL CYMBAL SET
Packed with an arsenal for any self-respecting metal drummer, the MEINL Classics Custom Extreme Metal Cymbal Set is a brutal package deal for those wanting to add that explosive factor to their drumkit. The Classics Custom Extreme Metal Cymbal Set includes a 14” Extreme Metal Hi-Hat, an 18” Extreme Metal Crash and a 20” Extreme Metal Ride. Horns up.
For more information on the MEINL range of products, contact Intermusic Distribution on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.imd.com.au
COLLARTS ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM and several new appointments of highly experienced staff members. The most recent appointment being that of Australia’s master drummer, David Jones, who has been described as one of the most innovative and musical drummers in the world. Collarts is thrilled that its students will have the opportunity to gain invaluable insight into the music industry and develop and improve their music performance skills through the inaugural Artist-in-Residence program with David Jones. In this new role at Collarts David Jones will assist in the development of advanced students, undertake masterclasses and work with students throughout the year. David will also direct a series of Workshops across a wide range of instruments and styles, working with some of Australia’s leading musicians. These Workshops will be targeting up and coming Year 11 and 12 musicians with an interest in contemporary music styles.
The well-regarded Melbourne music school, The Australian College of the Arts (Collarts), entered a new era in 2012 , introducing new degree courses, new owners, scholarships which have just been announced PG. 20 MIXDOWN NO. 220
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Find out more about David Jones at www. davidjonesdrums.com.au. For more information on Collarts, visit www.collarts.edu.au.
The Audio and Composition & Music Production Departments of the Australian Institute of Music (AIM) is conducting an information evening this month, comprising of a series of interactive workshops on the topics of Recording and Mixing, Creative Music Production, Film Sound Production and Composition and Songwriting. The workshops will be conducted by leading AIM production staff using the state-of-the art facilities and studios. The workshops provide a practical sample of what it is like to study at AIM. AIM’s Bachelor of Music (Audio) and Bachelor of Music (Composition and Music Production) are regarded as the premium production courses in the country. Students are taught by some of Australia’s most respected sound engineers
and composers who bring a vast array of knowledge and real world experience to the classroom environment. The workshops are free, though bookings are essential! To book tickets, please go to: www.aimproductionevening. eventbrite.com.au
For further information, contact Australian Institute of Music on 9219 5444 or events@aim.edu.au INFORMATION EVENING: August 23, 6pm – Australian Institute Of Music, Sydney NSW
DW CYMBAL SEAT, FELT, STEM AND WING NUT COMBO PACK DW have done it again when it comes to innovative and practical product design! Introducing the Cymbal Seat, Felt, Stem and Wing Nut Combo Pack. The newly designed cymbal seat includes an incorporated barbed sleeve to both protect the cymbal and retain the bottom felt, while the top felt and washer are now connected to the wing nut. The result is a cymbal tilter assembly with fewer parts to lose or fall on a dimly lit stage. DW, the art is in the details!
For more information on the DW range of products, contact Intermusic Distribution on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.imd.com.au
STANTON DJC.4 CONTROLLER
PEARL CHAIN DRIVE DEMON DRIVE PEDAL The P3000C Demon Chain Pedal combine all of the features of the Demon Drive Pedal with the feel and power of a chain drive. In 2009 Pearl established a new standard for bass drum pedals with the Demon Drive, the smoothest, fastest most versatile pedal in the world, and now it’s time for a little… chain. Introducing the all new Demon Chain with all the features of a Demon pedal plus the strength and power of a chain. Yeah, it’s off tha chain!
For more information on the the Pearl range of products, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au
PEARL REFERENCE PURE DRUMKIT
The Pearl Reference Pure Drumkit process begins with the choosing of thinner plies of prized Maple, hand selected Birch and rare African Mahogany. While Reference drums use a rotating combination of both 1.6mm and .9mm wood plies in its shell construction, the Reference Pure uses only .9mm thick plies in its construction. The result is a thin, resonant, extremely vibrant yet powerful nearfield experience for the player with the wonderful accentuation effects of Birch and African Mahogany placed exactly where they are needed most. To maintain maximum resonance, Pearl’s Reference Pure features our super low-mass elegantly
designed STL Tube Lugs and our thin Fat Tone Hoops with our exclusive hemmed and welded edge resulting in a hoop that is both lightweight and extremely strong to further promote maximum resonance. For those looking for a thin shell alternative to our legendary Reference Series drums, your wait is over. Reference Pure. Pure Tone. Pure Resonance. Pure Perfection. For more information on the the Pearl range of products, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au
Stanton’s new DJC.4 is a DJ controller, with audio interface, bundled with an enhanced 4-deck version of Virtual DJ LE. The DJC.4 allows users to scratch and mix four decks of audio, as well as control video. The integrated 4-channel audio interface allows users to integrate analogue turntables or CD decks into their performance,
and the large touch sensitive jog wheels make for extremely tight scratch and pitch bend control. For more information on the Stanton range of products, contact Jands on (02) 9582 0909 or visit www.jands.com.au
REMO POWERSTROKE PRO BASS DRUM HEAD
Remo is proud to introduce the New Powerstroke Pro Bass Drumhead. Constructed with 10 mil film, the Powerstroke Pro features our new Pressure Dampening Profile and permanently mounted acoustic foam that provides maximum volume and projection while producing controlled highs, accentuated mid and maximum low range frequencies. The Ultrasonically Welded Profile alleviates separation and unwanted noise, making it ideal for live and studio use. Powerstroke Pro is the new
standard in subsonic bass drumheads delivering unmatched sound, feel and performance. Available in Clear, Coated and Ebony. Available in sizes 18’, 20”, 22”, 23" and 24”.
For more information on the Remo range of products, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au
ZILDJIAN K HYBRID TRASH SMASH
PROTECHTOR CASES You got yourself a sick drumkit, now you just have to keep it protected. The Protechtor Elite Air Series design features an oversized case with tailor-made contours and shaped foam strips to securely cushion each drum. Drum rest in the middle, away from the side walls, providing a snug fit and eliminating the need for foam. Accommodates most suspended mounting brackets without upsizing. Comes with a limited lifetime warranty against cracking. Adjustable straps with quick-snap clips for easy attachment.
For more information on Protechtor Cases, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au
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Another achievement by fusion drummer Akira Jimbo and the Zildjian Sound Lab, the Zildjian K Custom Hybrid Trash Smash is a dark-toned, multi-purpose cymbal for the progressive drummer. Thin enough to deliver resonating crash and an advertised rude trash, but also a robust 19” to allow riding and playability. Add in the inverted bell and hand-hammered quality and you’ve got a unique new sound for your kit.
Add a little trash to your set-up and discover a totally new sound.
For more information on the Zildjian range of products, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au
Proudly distributed by: MUSICLINK AUSTRALIA 29 South Corporate Ave. Rowville VIC 3178 P: +3 9765 6565 F: +3 9765 6566 W: www.musiclink.com.au
PLAY BY YOUR RULES Already the winner of countless industry awards and recognized by many as “The Biggest Drum Innovation in 400 Years”, Zildjian’s AE Cymbal System is a paradigm shift in percussion. Zildjian’s revolutionary new cymbal system includes low-volume, acoustic metal cymbals; a pick-up that utilizes a patent-pending, dual-head mini microphone design; and a Digital Cymbal Processor designed to produce customizable cymbal sounds. Let your home, gig or garage be the birth place for the creation of a new sound!
ZIGEN16AEBS1
14”, 18”, 20” SET ZIGEN16AEBS2
13”, 16”, 18” SET
IN STOCK NOW!
THE LONG AWAITED AND GREATLY ANTICIPATED ZILDJIAN GEN 16 AE CYMBAL SYSTEM HAS FINALLY ARRIVED IN AUSTRALIA! MUSICLINK AUSTRALIA :: 29 South Corporate Ave. Rowville VIC 3178 P: +3 9765 6565 F: +3 9765 6566 W: www.musiclink.com.au
AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN PG. 23
SLIPKNOT
THE DARKER FREQUENCIES Slipknot have been at it for 17 years now, yet to this day if you flip on That Metal Show on Foxtel you’ll hear them referred to as ‘a new band’ by the hosts. Why? What is it about Slipknot that makes them seem so fresh even to TMS host Eddie Trunk who has worked in the metal industry for decades - when the truth is that Slipknot have been around the block many, many times? It’s probably got to do with their energy, adventurousness and determination. They’ve always had a firm sense of self-belief and their own twisted moral code. They have the hunger and energy of a new band. That’s what it is, and that’s why their latest release, Antennas To Hell is such a cohesive album. Sure, it’s a best-of (let’s not use the term ‘greatest hits’), but at its core it’s more than just a collection of songs gathered from the band’s four albums: it’s simply a kickass Slipknot album. Stripped of the context of the albums they came from, and even though the songs are all grouped in chronological order, the set comes off as less ‘greatest hits’ and more ‘the best Slipknot setlist you ever heard.’ It’s only been out for a few weeks, yet it’s getting great reviews from those who are finally giving the band a chance and accepting that they’re not a ‘new band’ - they’re a singular entity who long ago earned the right to simply be thought of as a band. Thinking back to when Slipknot first broke, percussionist Chris Fehn uses one word: “Insanity. You’ve got to picture nine guys who were so hungry. We were all living in Iowa and nothing was really happening there. It was really hard to get anything, let alone a record deal! We didn’t even have a lot of shows to go to. Then all of a sudden you’re out in LA with Ross Robinson, who had just done the Korn record, Sepultura, Limp Bizkit, and it was insane!” Prior to the release of the album, Roadrunner had already started drumming up a pretty big buzz. It was obvious that something big was about to happen. Nothing could prepare the band for what was to come. “You couldn’t!” Fehn says. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.” Even on the drive out to California the insanity prevailed. The band’s trailer broke down so they could only go 45 miles an hour all the way from Iowa to Cali. “It was maddening!” he says. “Just getting out there was a trip. None of us had any money. We didn’t know what we were doing. We were all really close at that point so it was live or die.”
The motivation and confidence to reach for their goals kept the band going during this headfuck of a time. “I don’t know if I understand any other way to do that,” Fehn says. “Music is such a huge part of my life, especially in Slipknot because I love the songs and I love what Corey [Taylor, vocals] has to say, and what everybody else has to say within their instrument or other lyrics they’ve brought to the songs. So it’s not a problem for me to show my love for that. Does that make sense? And the way I do that is to perform. It’s such a part of who I am that it’s effortless. And in the Slipknot way, we really don’t care. We want to perform the way we feel. And it’s sad that other artists don’t do that.” A Slipknot show is an incredibly physical experience, for band and audience. During his first ever show with the band, Fehn thought he wasn’t going to get through it. The heat of the stage costume and the intensity of the performance were overwhelming. Fehn got his first drum set when he was five or six after constantly begging his mother - a talented musician - to get him one. He went downstairs
to open his presents and to his surprise saw a Muppets-branded drum kit. “I sat down and started playing it and my father stood up and said ‘nope! You’re not doing that.’ I just instantly started bashing on that thing.” Fehn’s drumming career was on hold for a long time until after high school, when he got a proper drum kit, which he traded his Nintendo for. From there he formed a garage band who got better and better, eventually opening up for Slipknot, and the rest is history.
drummer that we’re just more of the thunder and the heaviness and the theatrics of it. We’ve used a lot of things for drums: propane tanks, kegs. Everything’s an instrument, man! I can go outside this bus right now and find a piece of metal sitting on the ground and we’ll throw it in the bottom of the bus because it might be used on a record some day. You never know. That freedom as a percussion player is really great. To be able to come up with just anything. Sound is anything, no matter what.”
His stage kit now is not what you might conventionally think of as a standard percussion rig. “It started with a kit that had gymnastic springs on it. Those were on the bottom and we welded all the brackets on there to fit the four drums to. I miss that kit. That was awesome. I could bounce it across the stage. Then that evolved into what it is today. Now it’s on an aircraft simulator, so it moves all around. Joey [Jordinson] is such an amazing
By Peter Hodgson
Antennas To Hell is out now through Roadrunner Records.
JOE BONAMASSA BACK TO BASICS
It’s been a big year for Joe Bonamassa so far. In January he unveiled his set of signature Seymour Duncan humbucker pickups and a pair of Dunlop pedals then rocked the Ernie Ball 50th Anniversary party in LA; in April he unveiled a new Gibson ES-335 signature model; in May he released Driving Towards The Daylight, which sees him return to his blues-rock sound after exploring other textures on recent recordings; and he’s been hard at work on the third Black Country Communion album. And in October he hits Australia for the second time, playing shows in Perth, Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Daylight features plenty of firey blues-rock playing and some gorgeous guitar tones. “It’s been wellreceived,” Bonamassa says. “We’re not really blues to begin with, but close enough!” Particularly in Australia: the album features a cover of Jimmy Barnes’ “Too Much Ain’t Enough Love” featuring Barnesy himself on lead vocals. Barnes wrote the song with Randy Jackson, Neal Schon (Journey), Jonathan Cain and Tony Brock. Aside from a few great Bonamassa originals, tracks include songs by Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Koko Taylor, Bernie Marsden (“Marsden’s a super-nice guy!”), Tom Waits and Bill Withers. Quite the stylish dude, Bonamassa knows the value of presentation and of setting a mood for the music. The cover of Daylight is a perfect example of this. “This one was my idea,” He explains. “We had the title, Driving Towards The Daylight, and in the initial few mock-ups they sent me a picture of a headlight from a Pontiac. I said, ‘surely we can do better than this.’ So I sent them back a bunch of pictures of old racing posters and said “This is what we want to do. The old Monaco posters.” I’m a vintage nut, so that’s what I do!” The result is a bold, evocative image that sets the scene for the driving blues-rock inside.
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It’s now six months since the Bonamassa pickups were officially launched at the NAMM Show, and Bonamassa regularly hears from players who have installed them in their guitars. There have even been quite a few reports of folks buying a set without yet owning the Les Paul they plan to eventually put them in! “My favourite part is when someone writes on Facebook, “I’m not a fan of you. In particular, I dislike your music - but I like your pickups” Either way, that’s a satisfied customer, y’know?” As for Bonamassa’s signature Crybaby pedal, “Most of the buying public wants a true bypass wah. I’m the only idiot that actually prefers it with the treble loss. For me it’s always easier to add treble into the sound than it is for me to subtract it. I know a few tricks to get rid of it but it’s generally harder and more of a pain in the ass.” Both the Crybaby and Joe’s new Fuzz Face model go back to Jorge Tripps, founder of Way Huge Electronics and now a designer at Dunlop Manufacturing. “We share a storage facility together where I rehearse,” Bonamassa says. “Jorge is my neighbour and we’ve become really good friends over the last seven, eight years. Jorge goes ‘Hey I’ll build you a wah. Why are you playing that Vox? I’ll build you a Crybaby.’ Then he built me this Fuzz Face and I used them for years. I didn’t know I had anything special. But Jorge would go
AUGUST 2012
Patrick Godin (left) and guitar virtuoso Juan Carmona (right) ‘Here’s something we don’t make. It’s a ‘67 with a different capacitor, a very early style wah.’ I love the sweep. It’s temperamental and it howls, but when it warms up and it’s on, it’s awesome! There’s none better. Same with the Fuzz Face: it’s built as a lowgain Fuzz Face for humbuckers. We started making them as a signature thing, but we researched and developed these things for five years.’ Aside from continued touring, Bonamassa has just wrapped up his portion of work on the third BCC record. “The album’s coming out great! My bit is finished. It’s a fine, solid effort by a good dais of musicians! It certainly fills a niche. My favourite reviews was one of those English ‘too hip for the room’ magazines, who reviewed it poorly and said ‘These guys are living in the past, blah blah blah blah, made a record that sounds like 1972.’ And I go ‘That’s the whole point! We’re not trying to
be the Arctic Monkeys! They already exist! We’re not trying to break bread with the young kids that are on the charts and happening. We offer an alternative to what’s on the radio. New songs done as if they were recorded as if they were recorded in 1972, done by musicians who play in that style.” By Peter Hodgson
TOUR DATES: October 1 – Perth Concert Hall, Perth WA October 3 – QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane QLD October 5 – The State Theatre, Sydney NSW October 7 – The Civic Theatre, Newcastle NSW October 9 – Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide SA October 11 – The Palais Theatre, Melbourne VIC
ridiculous versatility.
Y! R R U H ck on
d Sto nt e t i m e Li hipm S t s 1
THE ALL NEW G14 14 mils of the world’s best single-ply film combined with Evans’ exclusive Roll-Over Hoop design and custom adhesives to deliver a ridiculous amount of durability, tonal versatility and volume. Go ahead. Hit it.
evansdrumheads.com
Proudly distributed by D’Addario Australia sales@daddario.com.au Follow us on
D’Addario Australia
@DaddarioAus AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN PG. 25
THE BLACK ANGELS AFTER THE DREAM
The whistles and bangs of fireworks can clearly be heard in the background as Alex Maas answers the phone. It’s Independence Day in Austin, Texas and the Black Angels’ singer is taking a break from festivities to talk about the progress on the follow-up to 2010’s Phosphene Dream, and their upcoming appearance at the second instalment of Harvest Festival. Debuting in 2005 with their self-titled EP, the quintet have established themselves as one of the leading lights in American psychedelia across three albums and a handful of singles and EPs. Beginning sessions in January the band has, to date, 30 tracks under consideration for inclusion on their next release. As Maas explains, having an abundance of tunes to choose from is a blessing. “Any time you’re in a creative moment you sit there and you just try and document everything, you just let it spill out and then you take a step back and think, ‘OK, what’s this? What’s that? How do you make sense of all of this?’ That’s kind of the spot that I’m in right now,” he says. “I believe in every single one of the tunes. We’ve been sitting here trying to work out our top 15 or top 20, and it’s tough. You kind of look at your songs as little pieces of yourself.” The most recent Black Angels release came in the form of the Record Store Day single ‘Watch Out Boy’/’I’d Rather Be Lonely’. Both tracks stepped away from the garage rock sound that was prevalent throughout Phosphene Dream and in its place listeners heard a softer, more introspective side to The Black Angels. Maas says that what they’ve written during the current sessions shows another side of the band again. “You evolve as a band and you evolve as a person, and I want to continue to grow,” he explains. “If you listen to Revolver and
Sgt Pepper’s, there’s a lot of evolution in there. If you hear these songs, it’s going to sound like The Black Angels – take that however you want to take it. When I listen to these songs, it has this feel to it and it’s hard to describe. The songs that we released on Record Store Day were a different direction but to me, they still had our touch on them. The songs that we’re working on now sound completely different to the songs we released on Record Store Day, and I want to continue to put out things that are new and interesting for people who give a shit about our music.” With so many great songs to choose from, Mass tells me a double album hasn’t been ruled out. “We’ve thought about that a lot recently because we have so much material. If you look at a record like Siamese Dream or you look at a record like The White Album, every single song on there is great,” he says. “[But] if you’re putting out 30 songs, it’s very trying. For one, it’s difficult in terms of, what are you going to play when you go out on tour? Are you going to play all 30 songs? Do you play your five favourite then your five favourite from the last three records? I don’t know. “I don’t know if, realistically, that makes a lot of sense not only from a touring end but if you talk to a businessperson they’d probably say that’s a bad
CHROMATICS
idea – not that business should interfere in that at all,” he adds. “What I do know is that I want to give people who give a shit about our music the best songs that we have available, and then not make them wait as long as they did for this next record, if they are waiting.” The lengthy gap between Black Angels releases is something that the Maas hopes to curtail in the future – but it’s a tricky venture for all involved. “One thing I’d like to be doing with our band is to be releasing something every three months. That’s going to be really difficult on the people that work for us and it’s going to be kind of difficult on us, and it’s going to be hard for people to keep up with it – but I just want to get it out there, even if it’s for free,” he says. While there’s no concrete release date yet for any new Black Angels recordings, one thing that is a definite is the group’s appearance at Harvest Festival in November – the second time the group have visited Australia after touring mid-last year. The
Black Angels are no strangers to festival curation themselves, having staged Austin Psych Fest in their hometown for the past five years, and Maas is happy to be a part of the Harvest bill. “I’ve always wanted to see Beck and never have. I know it’s the obvious thing to say [but] that’s an artist I would love to work with. He’s such an active player. He’s transcended time with his music. If you listen to his drumbeats and his samples and his vocals; just his concept of songwriting is great. I’m looking forward to seeing our friends The Dandy Warhols too. The lineup’s insane – the people who are doing the festival obviously have great taste in music.” By Michael Hartt
The Black Angels will return to Australia as part of this year’s Harvest Festival. FESTIVAL DATES: November 11 – Werribee Park, Melbourne VIC November 17 – Parramatta Park, Sydney NSW November 18 – Botanic Gardens, Brisbane
KILLING FOR LOVE
There are few contemporary record labels with an aesthetic as refined as Italians Do It Better. Since first forging their imprint in the early 2000s, the label has sculpted a sonic landscape of synth-tinged disco and electronic narcosis. At the forefront of this movement is Johnny Jewel. Label co-founder, he’s also the mastermind behind outfits Glass Candy, Desire and most notably Chromatics. After taking a break from his many other projects, March this year marked the release of Chromatics’ critically acclaimed studio album Kill For Love. Released five years after their sophomore Night Drive in what was arguably the breakout year for Italians Do It Better, 2007 - Jewell shares why this lull could be perceived as abnormal in the notoriously hyperactivity music industry and why the complexities of Chromatics are fundamental to the groups success. Why was it necessary for Kill For Love to be mixed and mastered multiple times thus prolonging it’s release? It’s the way that I’ve always worked. I always make multiple versions of songs because I can never decide. For me there’s two parts to the studio work the song writing and the production. As a producer I’m always trying not to destroy the song - I’m trying to reinforce it. As a song writer I’m trying to leave room for production. Because I do both roles and in that way and because I collaborate with everyone else it leaves a lot of open-endedness with the music. With Kill for Love for every song that was recorded potentially for the album there’s anywhere from six to ten different versions, edits or mixes where we focus on the drums or the piano to figure out what works best. The final versions that you hear is kind of like the ‘greatest hits’ of all the best moments that I found from working on all of the multiple angles of the songs. I imagine this formula is also true of the album as a whole. The song that’s before a song and the song that’s between two songs - I needed to find the balance of which mixes I was going to use to bring out what I consider to be the strengths within the album and perhaps mask where I’m struggling or what I perceive to be a weakness in a song. Some songs
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I needed to pull back in a certain way because I felt that the song before or after really needed to hit harder. Because I was treating it as an album and not a group of singles. Music is just a bunch of transient notes - the only real meaning in music is the space between the notes, what note is before it and what note is after it. That’s what makes music. Kill for Love was released just three days after it was finished, leaving almost no time for publicity or promotion. What was the reasoning behind this? Once I had the record finished I wanted everyone to hear it as fast as possible. I wanted them to have a chance to listen to it before they had a chance to read about it. I wanted 14-year-old kids and music writers to all hear the record at the same time. It was a bit of an instinctive and reckless move on my part, but the record is doing well and a lot of people are getting into the conceptual side so I’m really happy with that - I wouldn’t change a thing about it. How difficult do you think it is to sustain a career as a musician in the contemporary industry? For a big part of the time that I was doing this I always had a job. In fact I got fired from my last job because I toured too much. For a while I had to donate blood for money so I could still pay my
AUGUST 2012
studio rent. A career has never been the goal - music has always been the goal. I definitely think that if you’re going to try and stay afloat economically then you have to become more creative and kind of dangerous in the ways that you handle your business - you have to take more chances. It’s more necessary to be unique to survive these days. From a technological side, it’s really difficult for a blossoming artist to hold onto the attention span with all of the external pressures. I think it’s more difficult now than it ever has been. But so what? If people want to make a living then they should go and get a real job. When you’re producing is it ever difficult to distinguish which project you’re working on? Amongst my different projects - I’d say the main thing is that Chromatics usually starts with guitar, Glass Candy usually starts with synthesiser and drum machine and Desire usually starts on piano. Those are the direct physical instrumentation differences between the bands and where the music stems from. Conceptually Desire is usually based on themes of love, Glass Candy is more galactic and philosophical whilst Chromatics deals with loss. I’m a person who feels all of these things - as we all do, so I tend to take these different directions for each project. When I’m in a certain mood I know if I’m going to be writing a Glass Candy song or vice-versa. As a producer it’s
pretty obvious to me what’s what. Is it difficult to convey your production intricacies in a live setup? Well, with Chromatics have a bunch of electronics with us. Ruth [Radelet] spends her time on stage singing, playing guitar and also playing a monosynthesiser from the ‘70s. I play synthesiser and a few drum machines and some processors that I’ve been messing with. Adam [Miller] plays guitar and also has a keyboard and vocal synthesiser and Nat [Walker, drummer] has a bunch of pads and triggers that hold down the rhythms. We’re kind of halfway between the rock band and the electronic band on stage - but all the tones have been blending together really well. By the time we get to Australia we’ll have done three tours in Europe and two in the US, we’ll be nice and warmed up for you guys. By Tyson Wray
Chromatics are making their debut in Australia as part of this year’s Harvest Festival. FESTIVAL DATES: November 11 – Werribee Park, Melbourne VIC November 17 – Parramatta Park, Sydney NSW November 18 – Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, QLD
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FEATURED ARTISTS
THOMAS LANG INDESTRUCTIBLE
As we all know, Thomas needs no introduction. He is one of the world’s top drummers and he’s heading back to Oz to debut his ‘Drumming Boot Camp’ to the land down under. And not only that, but Lang is also co-headlining this year’s Drumscene Live National Tour, culminating with his appearance at Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend’s 20th Anniversary Concert. Let’s talk about the Boot Camp: you will be debuting the camp in Australia in Melbourne in August this year. What can attendees expect from the camp? Over the last 15 to 20 years drummers from all over the world have often approached me for private lessons while I’ve been on tour. And on days that I have off I would rather do something productive than nothing, so I started doing private lessons in Hotel meeting rooms or wherever, and it was always fun and great to meet people and do something productive. And out of this came the idea for the Boot Camps. At one point one of the students said, “Hey, do you mind if I bring a friend and we’ll share the cost?” And another time I had 7 to 8 people sitting in a meeting room in a Hotel, and it was a little chaotic and I decided, ok I can organise this. I can plan this properly get gear for everybody to practice on etc and advertise it, and that’s how the Boot campaign started. I started doing these camps in late 2009 and I have done about 24 to 25 camps around the world so far. What I try to do is create a camp that is very different from other drum camps. The first thing that makes it different is this is a hands-on playing camp. Everybody plays for 8 hours a day, 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon. Every student has a practice kit and they are playing non-stop. And everything that I teach I demonstrate: I’ll slow it down and I gradually build up these exercises with the students over many hours every day, so the one thing I can do with these camps is guarantee results! After a 3-day camp with me you will be able to play things that you weren’t able to play before, simply because you’ve just done 24 hours - 3 days of 8 hours a day - intense practising with me in a group. And the second thing that is very different
with my camp is that I create a curriculum specifically for each camp. When the students sign up they fill out a student information sheet with all the information I would need about the student in case of emergencies, how long they’ve been playing, what their grip is, whether they can read, and all these kinds of things. And I ask them what the top 3 things are that they want to work on. So with that information I create a curriculum matching the skill level ability for that camp and everybody gets exactly what they want out of the experience. I also do 3, 4 or 7-day camps depending on my availability and the situation, and in all these camps there is a certain group dynamic that happens that is extremely inspiring for the students. Because it’s a small group everybody is intensely involved in what’s going on, even the people who may drag behind get sort of pulled along with the rest of the group, and there is struggling and blisters and sweating - it’s really intense. I try to keep the energy level very high, and people are just amazed and surprised that they have achieved so much at the end of the camp. Most people that attend have never played or practised 8 hours a day - ever in their life! So to do 3 days of that is quite a revelational experience for these guys, and they realise for the first time what it really takes to become great, and how efficient you can be with your practise. I teach how to approach practising and practice rules and focus and concentration and intensity and all these kinds of issues, and they walk away with not only a lot of information, but also a lot of inspiration, and a new view on input and practising. Well that sounds awesome – I am sure there will be some very happy campers in Melbourne after
you are through with them! Let’s talk about the Drumscene Live Tour coming up in August, you are co-headlining along with Dave Weckl and Dom Famularo. No doubt you have come across each other at various drumming events over the years? Yes, Dave is a good friend. He lives close to me and I see him frequently. I’ve played with Dave many times at different drum events and also I have done drum camps with him over the years, like the Drum Fantasy Camp in Cleveland. We’ve done that twice together, that’s a week long camp. So we’re friends and very close, and with Dom I have done many things over the years including a Drumscene Live Tour in Australia a few years ago, and I’ve performed with Dom at many festivals. I know him well it will be a lot of fun to hang with those guys and I’ll have a ball. It’s going to be an amazing experience - Dom has such a great sense of humour he’s so entertaining and fun. I’m looking forward to catching up with them both. To finish up, Thomas, what’s coming up after the Drumscene Live Tour and your performance at Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend AUDW 20th Anniversary? I’m currently working on a new Stork album - we’ve added a singer to the line up now, a female singer,
VIRGIL DONATI
which is very different, and I’m excited about this new direction. I’m also working on Paul Gilbert’s Mr Big new album. I have also produced and recorded two more albums, an instrumental Fusion record and a World Music record with great guests like Luis Conte, Paul Gilbert etc. I wrote all the music and produced that record also. And I work a lot with my Italian friend Gianna Nannini. I’ve been working with her for 15 years or so, she’s my ‘regular gig’, if you like. I’ve played on ten albums with her and I’ve done all of her tours and we just released a special DVD live CD and studio CD from the last tour. I also do online drum lessons at www.artistworksdrumacademy.com called ‘Thomas Lang’s School of Drums’ - I have recorded over 300 lessons. It’s a unique new video learning process where you get one-on-one instruction tailored exactly to your needs - check it out! By Alex Deegan
For more info on Thomas head along to www.facebook.com/OfficalThomasLang
ON THE VIRG
‘On The Virg (OTV) was a legendary Progressive Rock Fusion band formed in the ‘90s by Virgil Donati featuring some of Australia’s most highly talented musicians; Phil Turcio on keyboards, Simon Hosford on guitar, Evripides Evripidou on bass and Virgil Donati on drums. OTV performed regular residencies at the Evelyn Hotel in Brunswick Melbourne showcasing their own original compositions along with some of the band’s favourite Prog-Fusion covers. I remember witnessing many mid-week gigs at The Evelyn watching the band blister through dense complex arrangements with ease. The name On The Virg certainly suited the quartet, because as a punter you would often feel uneasy about where the ‘1’ was in the bar, and if in fact the band would catapult over the verge or not? But these guys were masters of this genre, able to flow comfortably through various poly-rhythms and odd time signatures with total confidence in each other, and this made for an intense evening of the highest calibre of musicianship, something that probably to that date had not previously been witnessed in Australia, but was more prevalent during the infamous years of Prog-Fusion of the ‘70s in America. In the mid 90’s and early 2000’s Australia, and Melbourne in particular, experienced a modern day version of the bygone era of Progressive Rock Fusion with the introduction of On The Virg and Virgil’s inspiration from a time in music where the idea of musicianship was truly explored without boundaries. As part of the 20th Anniversary of Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend Concert On The Virg will be reuniting for the first time in 12 years to perform together and celebrate this monumental occasion. How is your solo album coming along? Last time we spoke you were working on an orchestral piece. After what seems an eternity, I’m finally at the mixing phase. It has been a long time in the making, but I am very excited to finally have a release date on the horizon. It’s exciting for me not only for the new material itself, but also for the musicians that have contributed to the recordings. Featured on this record, are some incredibly talented players, some of whom are just beginning to carve out a name for themselves, and also some established names. On guitars, Alex Machacek, Marco Sfogli, Raphael Moreira, Brett Garsed and Allan Holdsworth. On
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bass, Doug Shreeve, Evan Marien, Jimmy Johnson, Tom Kennedy and Anthony Crawford. On keys, I have Alex Argento, Ruslan Sirota, Dennis Hamm, and Jeff Babko. I already have another entire record in the can, which is the orchestral music you mentioned. I have decided to include a few tracks with orchestral arrangements, on this record, just for a taste of what’s to come. I’ve adapted these arrangements to fit in with the style of this recording, which is Progressive Fusion. The other orchestral tracks are more symphonic in nature, and feature drums and orchestra, rather than an entire rhythm section.
AUGUST 2012
So, later this year you’re coming home and reuniting with some old friends – I believe you’re touring OTV (On the Virg) for the first time in something like 15 years? It has been a very long time, perhaps not quite 15 years, but if memory serves me, we toured in Australia after the release of the record, perhaps around 2000. I’m really looking forward to getting on stage and performing with Simon and Phil after all this time, and also introducing Doug Shreeve to the line up. Doug and I have worked together a lot in recent years. We’ve developed a strong understanding, and I thought with the limited rehearsal and preparation time, it would be good to have him come along. I remember those Evelyn shows when you used to do a set of Dream Theatre tracks then come back on for an OTV set! There were some incredible shows you did back then, intense high-energy performances. What are your memories of that time? More than anything, I think it was a defining moment for my writing. Until that point, I was still developing my skills as a writer, perhaps a little insecure, but I felt there were some strong concepts materializing. My development as a drummer, and my understanding of rhythm, was just beginning to integrate with my ideas at the piano. Along with the emerging talents and skills of Phil, Simon, and Evri, the band was definitely a trail-blazer for Progressive music in Australia in the mid 90’s. I used to look forward to those weekly shows.
I hear you might add some new music to the set list? Yes, apart from our favourite tracks from ‘Serious Young Insects’, we will be playing some tracks from my new record, and some of my compositions from ‘Quantum’, the last Planet X record. It’s a challenging set, but I can tell you, I would trust no one more than these guys to pull it off. That was the great thing about OTV in the old days; we were playing cutting edge music, and pulling it off precisely and seemingly effortlessly. Easier said than done. These guys are great. One of the big reasons to bring you back to town and reunite OTV is to help celebrate Drumtek’s AUDW 20th Anniversary. You and Frank have been good friends for years - what are your memories and thoughts on Frank and Drumtek? Frank and I go back a long, long way. In fact I remember being a young 16-year old walking up to Suttons music store in the city, where Frank was working at the time, and we’ve remained friends all along. He has come quite a way since those days. Everything he has taken on has turned to gold, only because of the integrity, the high standards, the style, and the kind spirit he brings with it. I believe Drumtek is the pillar of drumming in Australia. By Alex Deegan
For more info on Virgil check out www.virgildonati.com
AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN PG. 28
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DAVE WECKL
FEATURED ARTISTS
P ERFECTIN G T H E C R A F T
Dave Weckl is an artist needing no introduction when it comes to his identity within the drumming community in Australia and worldwide. Returning this year to Australia’s Ultimate Drummers Weekend for a national Drumscene Live tour. There is no doubt that in the many decades to come, Dave will further stamp his mark on the history books of drumming as one of the greatest players to ever practice the craft. Until then, we all have the opportunity to experience another hair raising performance from Dave as he once again tours the capitals of our fair country, bringing joy to his ever-growing fan base. Can you talk about the structure of the shows and the material you’re performing on the current Oz Noy tour? Gigs with Oz, are always fun. This tour is a bit tough schedule-wise, and we’re not carrying a sound man, so it’s a bit more work for me, as I help out with getting the PA sounding the way we want. We’re playing music from Oz’s recordings, present and past. His music is a lot of fun, fairly groove oriented, but quirky and interesting to play. Darryl Jones (Miles Davis, Sting, Rolling Stones) is playing bass; so that’s fun too as it’s our first time really playing together. You’ve put together some great educational play-along packages on your website. Can you explain the concept of the ‘Singles Project’ and the accompanying videos you’ve produced as part of the total package? Thanks for that. The ‘Singles’ project is about trying to satisfy a few likes, needs and desires that have been void lately in my career. Since my band dissolved in late 2006, I haven’t had time to do many projects for myself, either recording or instructional. So, when and if I have down time at home, I try to put together a project with people I want to play with and do a song that will work well for both listening pleasure, and a play along.
I record, mix and master usually the whole thing from start to finish, which satisfies my production obsession as well. Since it’s all in download form via the Internet, I wanted to maximise the potential for packages available. So the concept is this; first the song is available as a single download. Customers have the ability to then choose a package for ‘their’ instrument, which includes the full band recording, a version without the pertaining instrument, a chart to read, and for drummers, I offer a free video of me playing the song if they buy the whole package. You can also add play-along versions so that you can obtain the charts for all the instruments and play the song with your band. We’re currently offering the package with the song and one playalong/chart for around $5 US. Not bad I would say, for what you get. You’ve always been passionate about sound and music production – can you talk about ‘Dave Weckl Production Services’? How is that side of your business/career progressing and what’s the future/plans for this business as you see it? I love the ‘sound’ aspect and enjoy continually learning, experimenting and working on getting better at capturing and producing it. My production services, at this point, mostly consist of ‘drum tracks’ and ‘mixing’. I haven’t had time to get into long-
Photo: F. Desmaele term production projects, but hope to do more of that in the future. The ‘drum tracks’, overdubbing tracks, keeps me the busiest these days. I have clients from many parts of the world that I work for, and lots of random work as well. It’s all done via the Internet and works very well for all involved. I’m also hired to mix recordings from time to time, which I also enjoy. At this point there are no real solid plans to do much more than I am currently doing with the service, as my touring schedule just doesn’t allow it. I would like to eventually try and do more production work and less road work, but that probably won’t happen in the near future. You’ve never been one to rest on your laurels. What do you focus on these days when it comes to analysing your own playing and the path of consistent growth? At this stage, just maintaining the level I try and perform at is enough to keep me off my laurels! [Laughs] These days I’m playing with many different bands on the road, so for self-analyzation I like to record the gigs to see where things are sitting, feel-wise, and how I’m supporting the music. If it doesn’t turn me on, it’s not going to turn on anyone else either. So that’s really the focus - to try and play at a very high, musical level in all situations. Beyond that, staying healthy and physically fit enough to
DOM FAMULARO
play like I want is also a focus, and becoming the most challenging as the years keep piling on! But, so far so good. You have a huge fan base in Australia and a long history. What will your approach be to this year’s event – ‘Drumscene Live’ as well as the ‘Drummers Weekend 20th Anniversary’? I’m always happy to come back to Australia, with my friend and organiser Frank Corniola, and share and play for the fans there. It’s been a few years now, so I’m looking forward to it. With my schedule, I usually don’t think too much about an event until I’m close to it, because I’m involved and present with what I’m doing at any given moment. So, we’ll see what presents itself when the time comes. By Ray Deegan
For more information on Dave Weckl, visit www.daveweckl.com
POSITIVELY POWERFUL
Returning to Australia this year, Dom Famularo was an obvious choice to invite back to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of AUDW. Aside from performing at ‘Drummers Weekend’, Dom will also join Dave Weckl and Thomas Lang on a national ‘Drumscene Live’ tour. Dom is no stranger to Australian audiences and in fact is really part of the team that has helped build the awareness and profile of AUDW – making it the massive event that it is today! He continues to travel the globe inspiring, motivating and stamping his own personality on the universal drumming community. If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered, “How does he do it?” How does Dom sustain the energy, stay positive and continually give without condition? I want to ask you some life questions that all relate to drums and drumming in different ways. The first being – that you’re obvious up beat and positive nature is something that everyone knows you for. When did you decide that this is who you wanted to be and why? I was probably about 18 years old when a female singer asked me, a friend of mine, to go to her school and do a performance for her students. She worked at the New York School for the Blind as a music therapist and would get all the kids involved in musical programs – these were all kids that were blind, some of them had psychological problems and some of them had physical challenges. So she asked me to come down and play for them and I said, “Of course.” What was supposed to be a 45-minute show turned into 2½ hours! They all came in and sat in a semi-circle around me and I realised that just to come in and play for them was difficult because none of them had ever seen or heard a drum kit up close. I had to articulate the drum kit and began to take each tom and each cymbal, play them separately and explain the sizes and then pass them around the class so they could begin to identify each component of the kit and get a feel for what they were hearing as a ‘drum kit.’ I had to go through that effort of letting them familiarise themselves with the vocabulary of sounds they were about to hear! I performed for them and as I did so, I
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kept a certain level of enthusiasm in my voice because I realised that these are people that really have a challenge in life! They were born with a very difficult way to go through life and I’m here to try and make a little part of their life better! So I really turned on the enthusiasm and the humour and the fun, and the kids were all very excited. I then took some questions from the kids and there was one kid at the back of the room who had his hand raised for a good half an hour before I called on him and he never lowered his hand, he kept it up there and when I called upon him, one of the teachers sitting in on the session began to cry! It was quite obvious that she was crying and I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong at that time! Anyway, I asked the child what his question was and he slowly stuttered and stammered through every word, “You know Dom, when you play a solo, do you plan out what you’re going to play or do you just play what you feel’? It took a while for him to deliver that question and when I saw a human, struggling to ask a question and fighting for every word, it just came to mind there and then that there really is a whole world of people out there that face some serious challenges and I think the power of being positive is very important! I said to him, “Thank you! What a great question!! I plan nothing! If you liked what I played, you really influenced me to play that way so I thank you.” They all applauded and we had a great, great time – they
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listened to me play again and as they all left, they felt they had to touch my face to get to know me, and that’s kinda how a blind person gets to know people! So they all came past in a line and touched my face and thanked me. When I finished up I went to my friend who had organised the performance and said, “ I’d like to go by and apologise to that teacher and see if I did anything wrong.” She replied, “No, you didn’t do anything wrong … absolutely not! That child had not spoken a word in over 3 years!” In everyone’s life a ‘peak experience’ happens! Something happens to really shift your way of thinking – it shifts the way you are – it shifts your humanity. And I just realised there was something more powerful in my ability and my talent and more specifically, my attitude! If I could re-call that attitude everyday, I could have these kinds of peak experiences more often than not. That was really a very striking factor in my life that allowed me to keep a focus on my personality and a positive attitude or a positive mood. It really is an act of choice that we make as people! It’s something that we need to discuss with ourselves and decide that we’re going to be a mature person and that whatever challenge comes up, I will approach that challenge and I will face it with the most maturity I can and the most positive outlook that I can have! After years of practising it and working on it, like anything else, it become a habit and our habits form who we are as people!
You’re back in Australia again, Dom, for Drummers Weekend and the national Drumscene Live Tour – what are your plans for this trip for your address to the community and the experience you’ll bring for this year’s 20th Anniversary show? It’s a been a couple of years since I’ve been down there and what’s amazing is in my travels I look at how have I grown and what I have learned. I’ve got some stories and things I’m looking forward to sharing with Australian audiences but I’ve even changed as a performer in these past couple of years! I’m looking forward to seeing some wonderful and great players and then I’m going to steal some ideas from them! (Laughing) I’m excited to see all my Aussie friends and Dave (Weckl) and Thomas (Lang) and just fire the crowd up and motivate them to go to the next step and be the next generation to push this art form well into the 21st century. By Ray Deegan
For more information on Dom Famuluaro, visit www.domfamularo.com
UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK GOD DRUM PROGRAMMING
Once upon a time guitarists had to contend with clumsy drum machines if they wanted to make a demo. Either that or, y’know, learn to play the drums. But sequencers and home studio software have changed all this. Now you can craft passably life-like drums on your laptop while sitting on your butt in your PJs on the couch. This is a blessing and a curse though. Back when drum machines were actual hardware boxes that you had to physically interact with, it was relatively easy to program something like what an actual drummer might play, at least from a compositional standpoint. Feel is a whole different story. But if you get your drums via the MIDI edit window in your recording software, there’s a temptation to over-compose. The following is some stuff that has worked for me, and hopefully you’ll find it helpful too. To create convincing drum parts you need to first understand how a drum kit works within the context of a song. A good rule is to think of the hi-hat as the timekeeper, the kick drum as signalling where the ‘one’ is, and the snare marking an accent. Sure, this is a huge simplification, but bare with me. The other cymbals can also be used for accents, while the toms are great for breaking things up for a fill or for adding some complexity and body to a drum part without confusing the perception of the underlying beat. Now here’s the tricky part, especially if you’re using MIDI drums to create a demo for a real drummer to play on a final version: everything you compose has to be physically playable by a human. That means you need to pay attention to whether you’re using too many drums at once (real live drummers typically only have two hands and two feet). Try to envisage how the kit is laid out, and don’t program anything that would be too difficult for a live player to reach.
It helps to watch a few drum videos or attend a drum clinic or two. One of the best tips I picked up from a clinic was when Virgil Donati once explained how to trick the listener into thinking they’re hearing something that’s not there. Say you’re playing a part which requires a steady kickdrum on the one and three, snare hits on the two and four, a pattern of eighth notes on an open hi-hat, and accents on the toms, some of which fall on the two or four. What the hell are you going to do? Well, if you’ve established a steady rhythm via the eighth notes on the hi hats, you can drop one of them out of the pattern without anyone noticing, feeing up a hand to hit the snare on the required beats. Here’s an example of how this may look, using Guitar Pro tab software. On the staff, the F represents the bass drum, the D is a rack tom, the C is the snare and the F on the top line is an open hi hat. In Figure 1 you’ll see that the third beat of each bar features three strikes at once (snare, tom, hat). In Figure 2 we remove the hat
Drums
Guitar
from that beat. If you listen close then yeah, you’ll hear the small space left by the absence of the hat. But in a full band mix, and with the impact of the snare and tom hitting at the same time or - even better - slightly offset from each other, you’ll never miss it. Another trick to really help make your programmed drums sound right is to pay attention to the velocity settings. Personally I figured out the best way to do this by plugging in my MIDI keyboard and hitting the keys at various velocities while using Toontrack Drumkit From Hell Superior samples. What I found was that lower velocity settings (around 40-60) work great for cymbals, while absolutely whacking the
CLASSIC KEYS ROLAND TR-909
Now, I know some of you will already have said to yourselves, ‘but the 909 isn’t a keyboard’ and yes, I realise that. But given that you are reading Mixdown’s drum special and the 909 isn’t too far from being the drummer’s version of a keyboard, I thought this was probably the most suitable time to look at what is undeniably one of the most recognisable classic drum machines, in both looks and sound. If ever there was a single percussion unit that moulded the sound of electronic and dance music, the TR-909 is definitely that, with a kick drum that has appeared on more major dance labels than any other. In 1984 Roland really got it right with the TR-909, thus making it a highly sought after piece of kit these days and so attracting a very steep price tag for a fully functioning unit, almost thirty years after its release. What made the TR-909 so special was the sound. You can hear that kick drum in a dance track and know straight away that it came from a 909. The analogue design gave a rich tone to the drum sounds that was helped along with some digital samples for the cymbal sounds to achieve some added realism that early drum machines from Roland lacked. Each of the sounds had individual outputs for routing into a mixing desk to allow further processing, but they could also be tuned and tweaked in the unit itself. You had the ability to adjust the tuning of the drum and cymbal sounds as well as the attack and decay to create a different sound each time. Yet, it always had that 909 flavour, no matter how far you pushed the processing. The sound selection included kick, snare, three different toms, hand clap, rim shot, open and closed hi-hats, crash cymbal and ride cymbal. More than enough of an arsenal to create interesting and creative drum grooves with a variety of tones and tuning. There was also shuffle and flam functions to allow you to bring extra groove into your rhythm compositions and take away some of that rigid, computerised feel. An integrated sequencer allowed the user to program patterns into the unit, but it was not limited to just that. With Roland’s PG. 32 MIXDOWN NO. 220
DIN Sync option for connection to other devices, or the MIDI connection also on a DIN plug, you could either run the TR-909 as a slave or a master with the other gear in your setup. This allowed for seamless integration with a variety of equipment and allowed the TR-909 to not only be a handy tool in the studio, but a powerful weapon in a live environment. The list of artists to use the TR-909 over the years is really too long to contemplate. It would be quicker to list the dance and techno artists that haven’t used a 909, as there really aren’t that many. It may not have found its way into many rock albums, but the TR-909 definitely found its place in the electronic music world and was a big favourite for synth pop acts in the 80’s and 90’s. I know there are plenty of drummers the world over that despise the thought of using a drum machine, but the same drummer often use samples when recording. However, more often than not, such samples fall short of having the richness in tone and punch that the TR-909 offers. If ever a drum machine could be considered a classic, the TR-909 surely is it. By Rob Gee
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bejesus out of the virtual kick, snare and toms seems to get the best result. So whether you’re drawing in your drum hits via the MIDI edit window or tapping them out on a velocity-sensitive input device like a MIDI controller keyboard or a drum module, pay attention to the velocity. Change it after recording the part if you need to, and don’t be afraid to use the humanise tool or manually vary the velocity of each strike if your parts sound too neat and machine-like.
By Peter Hodgson
years ago, a star was born...
It’s Blackstar’s 5th birthday and we’re celebrating. With the launch of a special, limited edition HT-5 2x10 combo. Based on the award winning HT-5R, the HT-5TH has the same patented features but with a unique cosmetic – cream covering, anniversary weave fret cloth and limited edition front panel. Each unit will also come with a unique certificate. The production run is limited to just 2,500 pieces worldwide with only 150 units set to come to Australia – don’t miss out!
Freecall 1800 441 440
BANGIN’ THE TUBS S H I F T I N G PA R A D I D D L E G R O OV E S
This concept I’m going to discuss isn’t in fact a new one but it is a good one and therefore worth mentioning. It can be done with any single musical phrase in fact but for the purposes of Bangin’ The Tubs today we’re going to use a paradiddle groove. In Figure A, you can see a single paradiddle (RLRR LRLL) groove with a very simple bass drum pattern for the purposes of understanding the concept and to make it a fraction easier to actually attempt to play the upcoming variations. The groove is based on playing a paradiddle with accents on the main down beats (1,2,3,4). This means that when you split right hand to hi-hat and left hand to snare, you will have right hand accents on the hi-hat on beats 1 and 3 and left hand accents on beats 2 and 4 on the snare. A bass drum has been placed on beat 1 and 3 with the hi-hats. Now we can begin to shift the beat and hear how this affects the way they all sound but more importantly, how they feel. We will shift the groove forward by one 16th note (semiquaver) each time. In Figure B you can see that by shifting forward one 16th note, the last note of the original groove becomes the starting note. We have shifted the paradiddle and also the bass drum part with it. This is simple in theory but quite tricky to feel in practice because we were relying on the downbeat for our feel. You also now end up with a different hand pattern – another paradiddle in fact. It actually becomes a left hand start Outward Paradiddle (LRLR RLRL). So in an instant, you have a challenge – a new paradiddle and accents not on a strong beat. Figures C through Figure H show the whole paradiddle groove being shifted but another 16th note each time until the groove would eventually return to it’s original form.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
If you look at the four parts of a group of four 16th notes (1e & a) you can see that you will have a different paradiddle everytime:
to go straight from beat 1 to beat & - you can just play single paradiddle and then the reverse paradiddle. Your choice.
I found this concept challenging but fun. Take your time with it and try to keep the groove so you know where you are. Enjoy!
1 – RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL (Single Paradiddle) e – LRLR RLRL LRLR RLRL (Outward Paradiddle) & - LLRL RRLR LLRL RRLR (Reverse Paradiddle) a – RLLR LRRL RLLR LRRL (Inward Paradiddle) This is interesting for a couple of reasons – the first being that you can practice playing each of the paradiddles in a groove setting but secondly, you can just think of each of the paradiddles when going to shift the beat. Say you wanted
Other variations you could experiment with using this concept would be to: 1. Keep the bass part static (don’t shift with the hands) 2. Make the bass drum part harder and more complicated, 3. Add more accents to the hands/ paradiddle 4. Shift any beat or fill you can think of etc.
By Adrian Violi
ON THE DOWN LOW
B A S S G U I TA R – S L I D I N G H A R M O N I C S
Hey, wait a minute - why is the guitar guy writing a bass column? Well, here’s the thing. I started playing guitar when I was 8. It was a few years before I picked up the bass, but from the moment I picked a bass up I was determined to develop my own voice on the instrument, separate to the voice I’d established on the guitar. And I quickly realised that the vocabulary of guitar doesn’t translate directly to bass, nor vice versa. So in this column, for now we’re going to look at techniques that guitarists picking up a bass occasionally might not know about, and maybe even some ideas gathered from here and there that even established bass players might dig. Let’s kick it off by looking at sliding harmonics. This is a trick that you definitely can’t do on guitar, but it works great on bass. Harmonic slides are quite easy to execute on a fretless bass but they can work on fretted basses too: four strings, five, six, whatever. Here’s the idea: you lightly place the edge of a finger over a harmonic note point, strike the note, move that finger away, then instead of simply letting it ring like a regular harmonic, fret the note and start to slide it up or down towards a different fret. There’s a bit of finesse involved though: you can’t just chump down on the fret and expect to have the harmonic still ringing. PG. 34 MIXDOWN NO. 220
Standard Tuning = 120
You need to sort of ease into it, pressing gently at first then progressively firmer as the slide progresses. But don’t press too hard or the sound of passing over each fret will create an awkward stutter sound. Also note that because of the physics of how strings operate and how harmonics are generated, if you slide from a harmonic at the 5th fret note to one at the 7th fret, the pitch rises by the number of semitones equal to the number of frets you’ve travelled, rather than jumping to the harmonic node found at the fret you land on. So you really are sliding actual harmonics rather than somehow sliding between them.
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Here’s an example of the basic technique (Figure 1) followed by the technique used in a musical context (Figure 2).
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Sounding the harmonic with your tone control turned down, then increasing it as you slide the note up or down
There are plenty of ways to employ this technique in a musical setting. Try the following:
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Holding down a fretted note on an adjacent string while sliding a harmonic.
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Playing an open string as a drone then sliding various harmonics over the top
By Peter Hodgson
•
Using one or two delay repeats to add depth and atmosphere to the slides
PEDALS
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www.austmusic.com.au
(D)IGITAL (J)OCKEY THE MAN AND THE MACHINE
The Maschine by Native Instruments is distributed by CMI Music and Audio
The world of music technology is always an evolving place and in the era we now live in, little stays the same for very long. We as musicians are constantly demanding new pathways to express ourselves and this is all the more true in the world of the DJ. Gone are the days when just two turntables and a crate of sixty records was all you needed to bring the party to life. Yes, you can still live in the analogue era and get great results, but with the wealth of information and the development of products out there that are aimed at improving the DJs performance, why would you hold yourself back? It is now not uncommon to see a DJ step up to the console and begin connecting a variety of devices to the mixer. More often than not, a laptop becomes the centrepiece of this display and for good reason too. Modern computers have come a long way in the past ten years and now offer the portability, stability and power that the DJ needs in a live environment to make their performance jump off the decks. So, with this new forum I have been given, I intend to look at the latest and greatest products to help you, the DJ, make the most of the technology that is out there and get ready for what the future has in store. Yes, we can still use vinyl. It sounds great and it has a certain appeal that will never
be lost, but at the same time, harnessing new technology is going to give you more control, more flexibility and more creativity than ever before. One such device that has been making waves over the last few years is the Maschine, from Native Instruments. This groove sequencer has been continuing to give producers and DJs the ability to bring their own music into the live setting as well as operating as a very powerful studio tool. Delving into the “Maschine”, it not only acts as a fully functioning control surface, available in two sizes, with a Mikro version also available, but it also is a fully feature DAW that allows VST hosting, recording, sampling and
sequencing. You can run it as an instrument within your favourite DAW or simply as a standalone system too. Straight out of the box we find that it has 16 highly-sensitive back-lit pads with velocity and after-touch, 11 rotary encoders for true analog feel and real time multi-parameter tweaking and two 64 x 256 pixel backlit displays helping to instantly find the information you need (in the unit itself or from your computer) and under any lighting situation. For anyone who hasn’t experienced the power of Maschine, you really should get to your local store and give it a test run. Check out YouTube for the multitude of DJ endorsements and demonstration videos too. Obviously it’s fully
compatible with the range of Komplete software by Native Instruments that may take some time getting used to, but it’s also compatible with a range of other interface. A little bit of learning will go a long way here and what the future holds with any new live sequencing or sampling unit really comes down to how you decide to use it and in this case become one, with the Maschine. Stay tuned as we delve into more DJ products in the coming months and also look at different elements of how to enhance your live performance, producing and technique. By Rob Gee
HOME STUDIO HINTS: DAMPENED DRUMS
I am sure we have all had, at some point or other, the neighbour who plays the drums. It can be annoying if they are good, it can be downright painful of they are a bad player. So, in consideration for all those people who live around you, what options do you have when you want to lay down some drum tracks in your home studio and not have to answer the incessant knocking at the front door every five minutes from angry neighbours? Well, in not just an effort to maintain neighbourly peace, but also looking for a way to better improve your drum sound at home, the answer may well lie in an electronic drum kit. KEEP IT DOWN Obviously there is nothing like hitting real skins on a real acoustic kit, but sometimes that just isn’t a viable option in the home studio, especially if you live in an apartment and care ever so slightly about your neighbours. So, the introduction of an electronic kit into your recording process is going to save you plenty of grief there. At the same time, it will also afford you the ability to get additional practise in without causing further hearing damage when confined to a small room. But, we are not here to talk about hearing loss, more so, recording loss. Untreated rooms do PG. 36 MIXDOWN NO. 220
The new Mark Drum Yes 1 electronic kit, as distributed by CMC Music
behave badly when recording and none more prominently than with drums. It can often be very hard to get a good sound from you kit when set up in a small room that is untreated. You get too much spill from one microphone to the next and the over abundance of unwanted reflections leaves your recording washed out and messy. So, again, the electronic kit has further benefits. MIDI, IT NEVER LETS US DOWN Just about every electronic drum kit on the market has a MIDI output on it. This makes them ideal as a recording tool. You are able to capture the dynamics and intricacies of your
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performance by recording the MIDI data, but you don’t need to worry about the sound of your room or an apparent lack of microphones. Once you have recorded your MIDI track, you can then apply just about any drum sound you like to fill the track out. With a wealth of drum samples available these days, from all number of different kits, it is very easy to pull a great drum sound by triggering samples within your DAW. Reverb, room noise and panning can all be applied to give the overall sound a more realistic feel and meld the tones together for a complete aural picture of the kit. Best of all, like re-amping a guitar amp, you have the option of
choosing the right drum sounds to fit within the mix after you have already recorded the track. This allows you to ensure you don’t have any toms that are resonating wrong or a snare that is too sharply tuned to fit with your cymbals. You can adjust everything after the fact. Firstly, worry about getting the performance right. After that you can take care of the sound. Many drummers may complain about the feel of the electronic kits pads or the sounds within the actual module, but give it a try and let the results speak for themselves. By Rob Gee
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NO. 220 MIXDOWN PG. 37
AUGUST GIVEAWAY
T
his month we delve behind the scenes and to the back of the stage where often the most integral player of any band can be found, hitting, tapping and foot-stomping away. That’s right, this month we shine the limelight on the rhythmic pulse behind all music and explore the world of drums and percussion.
For your chance to win the Mapex Black Panther Cherry Bomb 13 x 5.5” snare as reviewed visit pg. 6 for entry details
Our team of experienced drummers and percussionists had an absolute field day this month testing out all the latest in full drum kits (as can be found in our Road Test section) and all the individual snares, hardware, skins, sticks and accessories that make up this years Drum & Percussion Special. All the featured gear was put through rigorous testing and written about in a way to spur your creativity, imagination and ultimately help point you in the right direction for your next drum and percussion purchase.
TO WIN THIS ENTIRE PEDAL BOARD GO TO PAGE 6! DRUMCRAFT LIGNUM MAPLE 14 x 6.5” SNARE
RRP: $459
DRUMCRAFT LIGNUM BIRCH 13 x 6.5” SNARE
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
RECOMMENDED FOR: Jazz, Rock, Pop, Fusion, Country. Studio or live work. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Warm and refined you get a mix of frequencies and some overtones that add a bit of edge and sweetness to the overall tone. Extremely versatile too, I could see it sitting in for a range of uses thanks to its deeper shell and choice of woods. USABILITY: Being a bit of a chameleon the Maple 14 x 6.5 is super easy to get a good sound out of. A wide tuning range, plenty of variation and quality components make this a very usable snare. CONSTRUCTION: Quality German design and construction, serious hardware and built to be played. More goodness from Drumcraft, this time in Maple. OVERALL: The Maple is warm and full of body yet contains enough overtones to makes things interesting and sit it out in the mix a little. Plenty of volume and a wide tuning range mean you’ll get plenty of mileage from it and all with the knowledge that its well built and designed. A very nice snare indeed!
RECOMMENDED FOR: Funk, rock, fusion or even jazz players looking for a tight, drier sounding snare. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With this 13” snare, the size really does make a different with a controlled woody crack anywhere from mid to higher tuned pitches. Birch makes for a smooth, dry tone in this instance and you can really tweak this drum for that pitched funk sound too. I could see this being a nice studio weapon also. USABILITY: Like any of the Drumcraft gear its ready to go almost straight away and thanks to the feel of the lugs and snare assembly it’s easy to tune and tweak. CONSTRUCTION: Going down another interesting look Drumcraft have matched Remo Black X batter and Black suede resonant heads for looks as well as tone giving the whole drum a slick sinister look reinforcing the Birch shell’s dark characteristics. Rock solid. OVERALL: A really sweet snare the 13 x 6.5 has a tighter higher pitched vibe but still with plenty of room for other tones thanks to its depth. Great midrange and projection really helps with this drum being heard even though it’s slightly smaller. Dig the black aesthetics for a change too - another quality snare from Drumcraft.
DRUMCRAFT SERIES 8 14 x 5” STEEL SNARE
RRP: $399
DRUMCRAFT SERIES 8 14 x 6.5” BRONZE SNARE
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
RECOMMENDED FOR: Perfect for the gigging musician who is tired of their old snare sound and wants something that looks, feels and sounds the part. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The steel shell offers a bright tone and ringing decay that you do not get from wood. But, the design of this snare ensures that it still has plenty of punch to keep your kit sounding full of life. If you want your snare to stand out in the mix, this is going to be the best place to start. USABILITY: Obviously, it will fit in with just about any kit. It may not suit all metal or rock players, but then again, it offers a diverse tone that could fit in with just about any style of music. The steel shell has a certain something to its sound, which is why they continue to be so popular. CONSTRUCTION: What can I say; German design never lets anything down on construction. This snare is built to take the pounding you intend to give it and more. OVERALL: It looks great with a polished steel shell and black nickel hardware. It sounds great, like a good steel snare that has punch. And it’s priced really well. What more do you need?
RECOMMENDED FOR: This snare is just right for the drummer who wants something a little special in their kit and doesn’t mind carrying the extra weight. Great for a variety of styles, it really stands out in the mix compared to a wooden shell. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The heavy brass shell truly has a sound of its own. A bright top end that rings long after the strike and a smooth mid range and low end that stops it from becoming too bright overall. Best of all, it has volume with some seriously big punch. USABILITY: This is really something special and may not suit the needs of all drummers. You really have to hear it to understand how it will fit into your sound, but if you do go with brass, you will not look back. It will change your kit forever. CONSTRUCTION: This snare is built like the proverbial. It is seriously heavy and seriously tough. The brushed brass shell and satin chrome hardware looks great but will stand the test of time. OVERALL: I loved this snare right from the moment I took it out of the box. It looks great and sounds even better. All you would really need to add to it is a roadie to carry the thing around for you.
PG. 38 MIXDOWN NO. 220
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Remember to visit your local music retailer to test, try and buy and most importantly keep on drumming!
RRP: $269
RRP: $899
DRUM & PERCUSSION SPECIAL DRUMCRAFT SERIES 8 14 x 6.5” ALUMINIUM SNARE
RRP: $749
DRUMCRAFT SERIES 8 14 x 5” ALUMINIUM SNARE
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, metal, country players. Live and studio work where some extra oomph is needed. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Cracking, thick and punchy the aluminium shell houses some cool overtones from wild to funky and fat. Tuned mid to low you get great projection and a snare that could work well in many live situations. USABILITY: Easy to crack open and get stuck into without any fuss. The Nickel Drumworks feels super smooth and strong too so you’ll have no problems tuning this 14 x 6.5. CONSTRUCTION: I love the look of the brushed aluminium and satin hardware - understated, slick and modern. Drumcraft’s rounded tension rod casings are tough and look good to boot also. A tough looking snare that feels rock solid too. OVERALL: Drumcraft may seem like a newish player on the drum scene but they’re definitely heading in the right direction with instruments of this high quality. An interesting take on the Aluminium drum sound and I like it.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, pop, funk, jazz or country players. Studio guys needing a different take on the metal type snare or live guys that maybe want something a little louder with hints of overtones. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: A great sounding snare that will give you a range of tones. With the ability to be tweaked up in pitch and tension and also controlled a little with gels or a ring, you’re getting plenty of variation in one classy package. USABILITY: Straight out of the box this bad boy comes alive and even more when you tune it to your preference. CONSTRUCTION: I dig the German design aesthetic and this snare seems pretty darn bullet proof to me. Strong shell, tough looking hoops, tension rods and covers and a quality snare throw off give you the feeling it’s going to go the distance. OVERALL: A tad drier and perhaps more responsive than it’s deeper 6.5” brother this 14 x 5” snare has a lot of the ring and overtones of a steel snare yet carries that little extra body and warmth. Killer!
MAPEX BLACK PANTHER CHERRY BOMB 13 x 5.5” SNARE
RRP: $499
MAPEX MPX HAMMERED STEEL 14 x 5.5” SNARE
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: RnB, Funk, Soul and jazz styles or players wanting a snare that can cater for a range of tunings. This Mapex will actually cater for almost anything though. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The cherry bomb can yield a super focused crack or a broader, deeper tone not usually characterised by a snare drum of this size depending on what you’re after. It’s super sensitive all round with little overtones and a great rim shot. Very well behaved. USABILITY: Pleasing to the ear straight out of the box, all you need to decide is how you want to tune it. High and open = crack, funky and pop. Low and muffled slightly with some Gaffa = old school, focused and perfect for recording. Fell in love with it straight away. CONSTRUCTION: Cheery Wood shell has a beautiful finish with all the usual great Black Panther hardware and fittings – butter like piston throw off with dual tension knobs, premium snare wires and the stick friendly sonic saver hoops for great feel. OVERALL: Great snare. Mapex are really kicking goals with the Black Panther range. The price is pretty right with this guy too so not just pros are likely to get involved. I reckon it’ll deliver a great sound and good manners for years to come.
RECOMMENDED FOR: MPX are aimed at beginners, people getting in the game or like me, anyone wanting a good priced snare that can kick it with some other much higher priced models. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This is a great sounding snare for the money. It’s slightly drier thanks to the hammered shell. There are overtones but it’s all pretty standard steel snare stuff here. There’s a good defined crack and some real depth to the sound, particularly when played dead centre. I loved it cranked up or likewise, tuned low. USABILITY: Very well behaved, easy to operate and get playing quickly. No need for super accurate tuning, the snare isn’t temperamental. Just produces a good sound at any tension. Really performed well considering it’s the “budget” range MPX. CONSTRUCTION: Looks awesome! The hammered shell gives it real presence. The throw off and fittings aren’t Mapex pro grade or anything, but all functions well. Perhaps if I’m niggling, the throw is smooth but the plastic tension knob is a little stiff. OVERALL: It’s a winner. Considering you can pay $1000+ for snares these days, the MPX presents great value for money and a sound versatile for just about anything. Why not have one in the collection for that rainy day? It’s affordable!
NATAL BLOCK MAPLE STAVE 14 x 5.5” SNARE
RRP: $769
NATAL HAMMERED DARK BRONZE 14 x 6.5” SNARE
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: Intermediate to professional players. This is a pretty serious snare drum and will suit a bunch of different styles. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The snare has a really focused sound with a great rim shot and super sensitive touch. The shell is extremely thick and therefore the sound isn’t probably as deep as the size suggests but this snare would be a great all-rounder. USABILITY: Out of the box onto the stand and wham. Good sounding snare drum. Plenty of volume, low overtones and fuss free usability – throw off, smooth tension rods. CONSTRUCTION: The signature to this Natal snare is the construction. Made from thick, solid block maple staves and joined together to form a shell, the bearing edge is cut across the grain of the wood rather than with it promoting a more natural resonance and good volume. The snare also features a beautiful natural finish and lovely detailed fittings such as Natal’s Tri-Throw throw off. OVERALL: The block maple stave is a bit of a beast really. I love the exotic nature of the construction, the way it looks and the way it sounds. It would be a great snare to own to get to know and experiment with.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Drummers of any style or for anyone looking for a fat, dark and dry sounding snare drum. Choice of skin will determine how you use the available tone. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Dark Bronze is the right name of this drum because it’s just that. It has a dark, focused and dry sound that is usable for pretty much anything. This drum likes all ranges of tuning, is super sensitive, requires no dampening and constantly gives a fat tone. USABILITY: Natal have equipped this drum with an Aquarian Polaris head, which features an internal dampening ring it’s this that highly contributes to the dryness of this snare. The throw off and tension knob is smooth. CONSTRUCTION: Made from fully hand hammered bronze, this drum looks amazing. The drum also features standard (and excellent) hardware/fittings such as 2.3mm chrome hoops, the very cool ‘tri-throw’ throw-off that allows for three instant tension settings and all Natal budging. Interesting also how the hammering deliberately avoids all fittings so they remain flush to the shell. OVERALL: What a beast! I’d love to own this drum just to see how it reacts to different rooms, heads and styles of gig. Pretty cool piece of kit.
EVANS EMAD CLEAR HEAD
RRP: $85
EVANS EMAD 2 CLEAR HEAD
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: It is more suited to the jazzypop rock/blues end of the spectrum playing lighter, but could probably be used for heavier styles as well, as it can be tuned to have a more aggressive attack. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Quite versatile, and can be tuned and dampened to suit most musical settings, from jazz to pop to metal. The muffle rings, and the choice they provide, are one reason for this versatility. USABILITY: The skin looks and feels beautiful straight out of the box, and tunes up very nicely, with minimal tweaking required, which is of course exactly what the busy touring musician needs. CONSTRUCTION: The EMAD is single ply, which makes for a slightly brighter tone and a little more attack. It is a clear head, has the plastic damping sleeve on external side holds 1/2 in. thick foam damping rings (included – your choice of 1/2 inch. or 1-1/2 inch wide). It will take a beating. OVERALL: The EMAD is sound and performance personified. The dampeners are a great innovation, and assist to make the drummer’s job easier overall. Versatility is key here.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Anything that requires a dark tone and lots of low end, but still with great attack. So, the darker forms of rock and metal, dark pop and jazz. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The tone is slightly darker, no matter which way it is tuned, which may possibly lessen its versatility overall. The dampening rings allow for increased definition for a very focused sound. USABILITY: Again it tuned up beautifully straight from the packaging, and gave a defined sound straight off the bat. This is a clean, nice looking head that is ready to rock and roll. CONSTRUCTION: The EMAD 2 is the two ply version of the EMAD, a combination of a 6.5mm ply and a 10mm ply. Like the original EMAD, it comes with the choice of two sizes in dampening rings, lending you the control and definition you wants without stuffing, taping or cutting. OVERALL: This is the two ply version of the original EMAD, with the double ply adding extra darkness to the tone and durability to its lifespan.
AUGUST 2012
RRP: $699
RRP: $249
RRP: $599
RRP: $85
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 39
DRUM & PERCUSSION SPECIAL EVANS EQ1 CLEAR HEAD
RRP: $70
EVANS EQ2 CLEAR HEAD
TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: This head is probably for the slightly softer styles of music, maybe jazz, country, pop rock and so forth. It has a moderate attack to it and its single ply construction means it may be slightly less durable, less inclined to stand up to the relentless attack of the heavier hitters over time. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Its sound lies slightly towards the warmer tones, and has a moderate sustain, with the dry vents (tiny holes cut at regular intervals around the outside of the head) allowing it to be tuned higher if this is what’s required. USABILITY: Out of the packing this skin was on the money, fit perfectly onto the drum and tuned up beautifully. A very user friendly drum skin. It has a slightly softer feel when hit. CONSTRUCTION: It has a comparatively simple design, being a regularly constructed drum skin with the two thin muffler rings built in. The skin itself is a single ply, 10mm design. OVERALL: This is a well made skin, and highly suitable for musical styles on the lighter end of the spectrum.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Just about anything – this is a very versatile drum head. Tune it low and leave it minimally or not dampened for a big rock slap, or tighten it slightly further and muffle for a more defined tone for precision metal. Suitable for jazz or other softer styles as well. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Quite defined overall, with lots of punch and warmth. This is possibly the most versatile skin in the Evans range and could be played in most musical settings, and the twin ply nature of the skin suggests increased durability. USABILITY: Great look, strong feel, fits perfectly onto the drum and tuned up a real treat, this skin is ready for action straight out of the box. CONSTRUCTION: This is a twin ply skin, the inner being 10mm and the outer 6.5mm. There is a built in, internal overtone control ring, removable EQ muffle ring and the vents which create a dryer tone and allow for higher tuning when required. OVERALL: Versatility personified, this skin will stand up to most musical settings, depending on how it is tuned and muffled. This skin is the all-rounder!
EVANS EQ3 CLEAR HEAD
RRP: $77
EVANS EQ4 CLEAR HEAD
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: This skin is aimed more at people playing hard rock, power pop or the more groove based forms of metal, as opposed to the more precise forms of progressive, industrial and extreme metal. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The tone is lower end, bit still with plenty of attack. The EQ3 may possibly require further dampening if the player wishes to extract a touch more control and definition from the head. USABILITY: This skin was actually a little easier to tune, since the rings are on the inside of the skin, and again it had the feeling that it would stand up to an absolute pounding over a long period of time, without needing to be replaced regularly. CONSTRUCTION: The EQ3 is a clear, twin ply skin, with a thin 6.5mm each ply. There’s two internal rings build into this one, which are slightly less heavy handed in their dampening that the eternal foam ones. One is an internal overtone control ring and the other is an EQ muffle ring. OVERALL: What this skin lacks in versatility, it makes up for in warmth of tone and attack. And it may possibly be more for live playing than studio work.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Big, fat rock styles. The sound was big and boomy, with a real ‘slap’ to it whilst still with a solid bottom end. If you want to sound like Bonham at the start of ‘When The Levee Breaks’, this may be your skin. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The slap and boom makes this a slightly less versatile skin, there is less definition and more sustain. This seems a real bluesy rock skin, and further dampening, either internal or external, may be required for increased definition. USABILITY: This skin was very true in its design and fit beautifully onto the drum. Tuning wise, it required a little tweaking to hit that sweet spot, but overall a very usable skin. CONSTRUCTION: Dead straight where it needs to be and perfectly cylindrical overall, this head is well designed. It is a 10mm single ply skin with a single overtone ring built in. Looks sweet too, simple and effective. OVERALL: A slightly simpler looking skin, possibly designed for the simpler styles of music. Whack it on a three or four piece kit, sit back and just wail!
EVANS GMAD CLEAR HEAD
RRP: $85
SLAM CLEAR HYDRA DRUM HEADS
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO
PRODUCT TYPE: DRUM HEADS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: This head is probably good for the more precision and extreme styles of metal. If you were playing in Fear Factory or Periphery (or their like) this skin might be for you. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The GMAD is for heavy playing, with much punch and attack, a balance of controlled bottom end and a touch of brightness. The tone it gives is dark but still very sharp and defined, hence for the heavy footed player. USABILITY: Once again it is straight and solid out of the packaging and tunes up nicely. Straight and round, this is quality stuff. CONSTRUCTION: Falling somewhere between the two EMADs is the Evans GMAD. It’s a single ply, but at 12 mil it’s almost as thick as the double ply on the EQ3. It has the externally mounted foam dampening rings, again with a choice of two sizes. OVERALL: This skin should stand up nicely to the constant pounding of unrelenting double kicks, so if you’re slamming out the aforementioned heavy styles then this skin will definitely last the distance.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Rock, Funk, R’n’B. Anyone looking for a pretty solid, good value all-rounder hydraulic that will be durable, cut through and give that sound. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Most drummers who like clear heads and the sound they make will feel pretty much right at home but a hydraulic head can have more attack and less tone than a standard 2-ply. So it’s really to taste. Adding some slight dampening can focus the tone. USABILITY: The Slam Hydra clear provide a fat, full sound on the toms and are best tuned slightly lower. Bass drum has loads of attack but can sound fractionally thin. This is the nature of the head though. CONSTRUCTION: 2-ply head with a thin layer of oil between the plys. Slam heads are new to the market but look and feel like very solid products. It doesn’t feel like you’re buying a cheaper head. OVERALL: Slam Clear Hydras give that blend of ‘ring and dead’ that hydraulics are famous for. Worth having a look at these if you are want new heads and want to save a few dollars in the process. Great bang for your buck.
SLAM CLEAR RINGER DRUM HEADS
RRP: $13.95 - $14.95 (SINGLE), $90.00 - $99.00 (PACK)
SLAM DOUBLE CLEAR SINGLET DRUM HEADS
PRODUCT TYPE: DRUM HEADS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: DRUM HEADS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: Hard hitters, drummers with stubborn toms that don’t tune easily and need/want a great, focused sound with very little effort. Will suit styles like Rock, R’n’B, Gospel, Fusion, Funk. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: These clear ringers from Slam are frankly awesome. They will cut just about any style bar maybe jazz and provide a great pre-dampened tone that is super focused, easy to attain and would pretty much make any drum sound good. Still plenty of attack though, and a slightly softer volume due to the internal dampening. USABILITY: I barely had to muck around at all to get a good sound from the toms and the Clear Ringer bass drum head put a smile on my face with it’s deep, fat thud with nothing in the drum. Tunes well at all tensions. CONSTRUCTION: Clear Ringers are a 2-ply construction with a dampening ring attached under the head. This automatically focuses the sound. The other variant the White ringer (coated) provides an even dryer sound. OVERALL: Slam drumheads are great bang for your buck and I think if you want a fat sounding kit straight off, the Clear Ringers are a great place to start looking.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Any drummer looking for a solid, all round useable clear drum head that can provide a good blend of fat and attack. Will suit styles like Rock, Funk, R’n’B etc. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Being 2ply, the sound is fuller than a single ply and I found these heads easy to tune. They really sing out when you get it right. The bass drum head has lots of attack. This is not necessarily a bad thing but you need to be into this kind of sound. Toms will be a more familiar sound. USABILITY: As mentioned, the tuning was pretty easy and you can vary the tension depending on the sweet spot of your drums. Mine preferred a medium tension. The tom heads are pretty much standard affair in terms of a good blend of thick and thin. Anyone familiar with 2-ply heads should feel at home. They cut through and provide volume. CONSTRUCTION: These 2ply heads look the part and feel great. They certainly don’t give you the impression you’re buying a discount brand of heads. OVERALL: These heads present great value for money, a solid, familiar sound and the durability of 2ply construction. It’s all good from this angle.
PG. 40 MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
RRP: $77
RRP: $77
RRP: $13.95 - $39.95 (SINGLE), $90.00 - $99.00 (PACK)
RRP: $15.95 - $34.95 (SINGLE), $90 - $99 (PACKS)
DRUM & PERCUSSION SPECIAL SLAM SINGLE CLEAR SINGLET THIN DRUM HEADS
RRP: $8.95 - $22.95 (SINGLE), $63 - $70 (PACK)
REMO POWERSTROKE PRO BASS DRUM HEAD
PRODUCT TYPE: DRUM HEADS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: BASS DRUM HEAD DISTRIBUTOR: MUSIC LINK
RECOMMENDED FOR: Being a thinner head, the sound will appear to Jazz heads (albeit they are clear not coated) but thin heads have their place in the studio, for drummers who like tone and ring in their drums and even Metal players who want maximum slap sound – and who can afford to change heads a lot. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The clear singlet thins are heads that will be good for the majority of styles. They give loads of tone with a lot of attack, but can produce overtones so you need to decide if you like a wide open sound or prefer a little dampening to help focus the tone. USABILITY: I initially found it hard to find the sweet spot on the toms and it takes a little bit of care when tuning because they’re thin but get it right and you have tone. They prefer higher tuning ranges. CONSTRUCTION: The single clear singlet thins are a clear one ply head. They appear well made and don’t give you the impression of a lower priced drum head. OVERALL: You have to like thin heads to begin with and also clear heads to like the singlets. But they will please with a wider range of tones. The attack is always prominent but this will please some players.
RECOMMENDED FOR: The Powerstroke Pro is a new type of bass drum skin recently released by Remo. It features 10 mil film, a pressure dampening profile and permanently mounted acoustic foam that adds a more controlled, muted sound, and virtually makes internal bass drum dampening a thing of the past. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: When attached to a 22” bass drum of the new Pearl Reference series of kits, was still quite fat and boomy, but in a warm, nice manner that puts one in mind of John Bonham circa 1972. USABILITY: If a more defined sound is required, for example when playing fast, precise double bass in a metal or heavy fusion setting, then further dampening may be needed. That said, the skin tuned up beautifully. CONSTRUCTION: Whether it was hit soft or hard, you can feel it will have a long life and it retained a beautiful tone across the sonic range which was impressive. OVERALL: Everything feels and sounds right here and it’s this type of innovation from companies such as Remo that makes the drummer’s job just that little bit easier.
KAHZAN BULLET CYMBAL PACK
RRP: $269 - $329
KAHZAN CLASSIC ROCK CYMBALS
PRODUCT TYPE: CYMBALS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: CYMBALS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: Beginners and drummers getting into the game. The Khazan Bullet cymbal pack is an excellent way to get cracking and actually get a decent sound. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The ride especially is very versatile with a nice wash and crash. Bell isn’t too loud. Hats are crisp, the splash is short and more bell like but quite soft. USABILITY: The Bullets are a budget range of an already extremely well priced cymbal brand but the sound of these cymbals is still very good for the cash. As far as getting yourself set up in the game, these Bullets are an option as they have a reasonably predictable sound straight away. CONSTRUCTION: Kahzan cymbals are constructed from a unique alloy and lathed/hammered specifically to result that unique, slightly angry sound that is Khazan. The cymbals look the part. OVERALL: Compared with other budget cymbal packs on the market, the Bullets are really worth considering because frankly, I think they’re better. You even get the splash and bag for free. Bonus!
RECOMMENDED FOR: Heavy hitters, drummers playing Rock/Metal, people needing more projection and basically lovers of the loud! SOUND AND VERSATILITY: These Classic Rock cymbals are designed to cut through. The sound itself is actually more dirty and trashy rather than the more traditional brighter, glassy rock type sound – particularly the crashes. Versatile? Not really the greatest adjective for these cymbals. They have one job to do – Rock out. USABILITY: Splashes are short, effective and usable. Hi-Hats are crisp and cut through, particularly the actual Rock hats, which are even louder with more ‘chick’. The Rides are soooo loud. Any of the regular cymbals in this series have some response at lower volumes but anything labled Rock are so thick their basically unusable at lower volumes. Must be struck hard. CONSTRUCTION: Kahzan cymbals are constructed from a unique alloy and extended lathe/hammering techniques. The Classic Rock cymbals and generally thicker and look the part with circular scoring and a brilliant finish. OVERALL: They’re called Classic Rock and they do the volume thing well but for me, they’re not quite a ‘classic’ sound. But if you like to hit hard and prefer your cymbals at high volumes, these could be just what you’re after. Good for the price.
KAHZAN VINTAGE SERIES CYMBALS
RRP: $40 - $259
KAHZAN STD SERIES 3 CYMBALS
PRODUCT TYPE: CYMBALS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: CYMBALS DISTRIBUTOR: JADE AUSTRALIA
RECOMMENDED FOR: Jazz heads, rock, alternative. The list goes on. These cymbals have a unique sound but it’s one you could apply to more applications than you might think. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Terms that come to mind to describe these Vintage cymbals – trashy and dark. The Hats are crisp and light in the larger sizes, the splashes are real trashy – a short effect cymbal. The rides are good too with strong definition and a useable wash. The crashes won’t be to everyone’s taste as they are fairly angry but cool in their own way. USABILITY: Overall, the super responsive Vintage range is an interesting sound and would probably take some time to get used to. The crashes are fairly unique but the raw, dry sound these cymbals offer are very viable and usable in the real world of gigs. CONSTRUCTION: The Vintage cymbals look the part with a raw, un-lathed top and a lathed bottom. This technique actually results in the dry, trashy sound. OVERALL: All cymbals, even hi-hats come in multiple sizes to cater for whatever situation you need and the price is right so you can actually extend your range. Some players will inevitably mix and match these cymbals to create different textures.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Drummers that prefer to hit reasonably hard. Will suit Rock, Metal and most styles requiring projection. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The 18” crash was the pick for me. Low pitch, very warm and rich. The other size crashes didn’t have the same finesse, as they’re quite thick cymbals. Ride was reasonably versatile with nice bell and a mix of wash and stick definition. USABILITY: Overall, the cymbals do their job but a couple of things were interesting to note. The standard hi-hats were very high pitched but had a bit of a ‘ping’ on the stand. The rock hihats are much thicker, were louder too but surprisingly had less ‘chick’. You would have to try them on your stand. CONSTRUCTION: The cymbals definitely look and feel the part being thicker and give impression that they should be very durable over time. OVERALL: As mentioned, I loved the 18” crash but the smaller the size of the cymbal, the less richness I got. They really required a fair whack to open up meaning they’re not as versatile for every gig. But like any cymbal, you need to hear it and choose the one for you. Well priced though!
ZILDJIAN 14” K CONSTANTINOPLE HI-HATS
RRP: $819
ZILDJIAN GEN 16 CYMBALS
RRP: $69.95 (18”) $79.95 (20”, 22”)
RRP: $50 - $399
RRP: $35 - $249
RRP: CALL FOR PRICING
PRODUCT TYPE: HI-HATS DISTRIBUTOR: MUSIC LINK
PRODUCT TYPE: ACOUSTIC/ELECTRONIC CYMBALS DISTRIBUTOR: MUSIC LINK
RECOMMENDED FOR: Drummers looking for those terrific vintage ‘60s, jazz-style sound. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: They’re what hi-hats should sound like to me. . Most of the time when I play a set of hats, I hear the good and then there’s the slight con that annoys me - a little ‘ping’, a weird note, unbalanced chick the foot compared to the hand, the list goes on. Here we have a set of hi-hats that ticks all the boxes for the pro player. USABILITY: The hi-hats utilise new hammering techniques which allow the cymbal to open up with darker overtones. CONSTRUCTION: The bottom cymbal is actually quite thick and the top is thin but this yields a great chick with the stick and an evenly balanced and pronounced chick with the foot. OVERALL: Perhaps heavy players will need to find something louder and thicker but for me these are great and really worth a look.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Electronic fans and drummers who want to experience real cymbals on an electronic kit. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Acoustically, these cymbals actually sound like cymbals – only ridiculously high pitched and super soft. Great for practice. Plugged in, they are acoustic sounding too because a microphone amplifies the sound. Using the brain, you can add effects to suit your liking. USABILITY: Fantastic. I have never experienced this level of response from an electronic cymbal through a set of headphones. In an instant, you realise that no matter how fast you play or how you do it, the sound will be transferred to your ears perfectly. CONSTRUCTION: The Gen 16 cymbals are constructed exactly like normal Zildjian cymbals except they don’t look like normal cymbals. Each cymbal is perforated with what appears to be millions of small holes and is a high polished silver look with the trademark ‘Z’ printed in a cool blue. The cymbal’s natural acoustic sound is recorded and multiplied using a small microphone instead of a trigger. OVERALL: I’m converted. The Gen 16 cymbals look the part, sound the part and more importantly feel the part. No other electronic cymbals perform like these do.
AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 41
DRUM & PERCUSSION SPECIAL ZILDJIAN A CUSTOM 21” MEDIUM THIN 20TH ANNIVERSARY RIDE
RRP: $519
DRUMCRAFT HH HDC DOUBLE DROP CLUTCH
PRODUCT TYPE: RIDE CYMBAL DISTRIBUTOR: MUSIC LINK
PRODUCT TYPE: HARDWARE AND STANDS DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
RECOMMENDED FOR: Drummers of all levels and lovers of Zildjian and specifically, the traditional A-Custom sound. This is a 20th Anniversary special edition so a little bit of a collector’s item. Suit Rock, Funk, Gospel, Fusion styles. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: There’s that slight glassy finish that comes through on most A customs but overall makes for a nice blend that balances with the rest of the drum kit sound. It’s a sound that would be really usable in a variety of applications. USABILITY: Crashes very well and a good mix of stick definition and wash. The bell is great on this cymbal too - it’s large and cuts through well, though not ‘take your face off’ loud. Ideal for more intricate patterns. CONSTRUCTION: This cymbal is a slightly larger than standard 21”. You also get a brilliant finish with symmetrical hammerings, an interesting overturned edge and a large bell. To make this ride a special edition Zildjian have given it a slightly different livery with cream stamping instead of the normal black. OVERALL: Good cymbal. Perhaps not a really great cymbal for a jazz gig if you’re thinking it, more a versatile, ‘everything else’ ride. Let’s face it; we all need one of those rides in our cymbal arsenal.
RECOMMENDED FOR: This is the perfect addition for the drummer who wants to add a greater technical style to their hi-hat control. The patented double drop positioning allows the player to take control of their hi-hats like never before. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The hi-hat has always had the open and closed sounds, variable by the height set on the clutch. Now, DrumCraft gives you the ability to add a further dimension with a half opened position created in a snap of a stick. USABILITY: Once installed, the clutch is a breeze to use. Striking one of the lever arms sets the hi-hats to a half open position, striking the next arm returns the clutch to fully closed. Stepping on the pedal returns the clutch to normal operation in an instant. CONSTRUCTION: Like all DrumCraft products, the Double Drop Clutch is designed and built to take a beating and stand up to the punishment. The components are all impeccably constructed and sit solidly once set up. OVERALL: This may well be just what many drummers have been looking for to add something extra to their hi-hat sound. Its clever design really opens up the versatility of the instrument and leaves it up to your creativity to make the most of it.
DRUMCRAFT HH-R8 REMOTE HI-HAT CABLE
RRP: $429
MAPEX P710TW DOUBLE PEDAL
PRODUCT TYPE: HARDWARE AND STANDS DISTRIBUTOR: DYNAMIC MUSIC
PRODUCT TYPE: HARDWARE AND STANDS DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: This nifty setup is perfect for the drummer with too many components to their kit and needs to be flexible with their live rig. It allows you to place the hats and the pedal in separate locations to best fit your needs. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: When set up correctly, the remote hi-hat creates the same sound and triggers at the same time any other hi-hat stand would, which is simply awesome. USABILITY: The possibilities are endless. The extra long remote cable allows you to position the pedal right next to your kick pedal or right out to the side. You are also free to place the hats in a different location to suit playing styles or fit into tight spaces. CONSTRUCTION: The cable design is amazing. Based on a race car accelerator cable, it is so smooth to operate and gives you a natural movement with the pedal. All the components are built so solidly, you just know this is going to last the distance. OVERALL: This really is a great design. It takes nothing away from the feel of your hi-hats, but gives you the added flexibility to conform to restricting space requirements. The only thing to consider is where do you feel like setting up the hats now?
RECOMMENDED FOR: It’s a double pedal so Metal drummers will like it, but really this is a pedal for everyone with it’s solid build construction - perfect for touring. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This pedal is claimed to be an entrylevel model. But honestly, it’s really good. It’s as quick as anything I’ve played before and actually maybe quicker! Both pedals feel the same and the smaller twin head (felt/plastic) beaters provide a nice punch from the head. USABILITY: The P710TW has all the standard adjustment you need to make your life easy. Sometimes too much choice is bad. Best adjustment is beater angles but you can’t adjust the pedal height separately. Honestly though, Mapex has it pretty right I reckon as it feels great. CONSTRUCTION: Solid steel and chrome everywhere gives a sense of reliability and that it’s well made. The thinner pedal/footprint means that you can get your hi-hat closer. There’s metal spurs, a base plate and rubber soles for stability and to prevent slipping. OVERALL: Love it! For the cash this is a serious pedal. I just don’t understand how Mapex have made it so quick. It was like the pedal board was stuck to my foot. This is the entry model? Crikey. Better than what I had as a kid.
MAPEX B1000 SERIES BOOM CYMBAL STAND
RRP: $149
MAPEX S1000 SNARE STAND
PRODUCT: HARDWARE AND STANDS DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
PRODUCT TYPE: HARDWARE AND STANDS DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: All drummers intermediate to professional needing reliable gear and some cool features that frankly make life easy on the gig. VERSATILITY: As with most smart drum companies these days, boom stands can covert to straight stand. Mapex follows suit with a single wing screw to get your boom position on hide away the boom for a simple straight stand. Infinite cymbal angle comes from an all position, swivel tilter with an acculock handle. Very nice. Cymbal stem itself is longer allowing for cowbells, tambourines etc. USABILITY: A quick lock cymbal nut can be locked with a push of a button allowing for quick removal or application of the cymbal. All boom and cymbal angle adjustment are great and really easy to use. Stand is solid but not ridiculously heavy. CONSTRUCTION: The B1000 is a solid piece of kit. Care has been taken to ensure parts that need adjusting are constructed to last. The quick lock cymbal nut has a metal threading to prolong life. OVERALL: A very good stand with features that will be helpful to the player for years to come. Some thought has gone into this stand. Winner!
RECOMMENDED FOR: For regular gigging drummers needing reliable, user-friendly and no-nonsense gear, hard hitters or for environments where your snare can slip on stage. VERSATILITY: Easy and quick adjustment/set up on the gig – such as being able to adjust not only the spread of the legs but the height of the shaft meaning ultra low positioning is available for those really deep snares. USABILITY: S1000 will fit all size snares and can adjust to any angle you like thanks to an acculock/ball joint style basket tilter. This is honestly one of the smoothest and fuss free snare angle adjustments I’ve tried. Tightening the claw is the standard wing nut affair – can be a little stiff but works well. CONSTRUCTION: Double braced gives stability, as does the option of spikes on the feet. This is Mapex’s top line hardware and it feels like it will go the distance. OVERALL: Like I said – no nonsense. Nothing here is unnecessary for what the player needs. Being able to lower the snare shaft to accommodate deeper snares is a great idea and getting the angle correct is so easy. Well done Mapex.
GOODWOOD 5A DRUMSTICKS BY VATER
RRP: $8.95
VATER NISAN STEWART SIGNATURE MODEL
PRODUCT TYPE: DRUM STICKS DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
PRODUCT TYPE: DRUMSTICKS DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: Drummers of all styles and sounds – Rock, R’n’B, even Jazz. Pricing is aimed at beginners and players on a budget but to me they really don’t feel or act like a cheaper pair of sticks. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Being what I call an all-rounder, these sticks will work for just about anything. The oval tip produces a slightly pronounced, clear sound on the cymbals. It’ll depend on the shape tip you prefer. USABILITY: Sticks performed well, with a slight top-heavy feel. There was a little too much vibration when playing the ride with the tip but overall, most players will find these 5A’s easy to get used to straightaway. Not too light either. CONSTRUCTION: The Goodwood’s feel solid to touch and frankly every bit as solid as your regular names, which is a good thing given they are aimed at being a budget range. Nice grain, smooth finish, nice in hand. OVERALL: I like em! Usually go for a ball tip myself but the slightly larger oval tip gives a little more volume. Good to know beginners or players on a budget have some options. Great bang for your buck.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Most suited to Rock, Pop, R’nB and Gospel drummers, but would be liked by anyone needing a little more length and weight in their stick. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Oval tip brings great clarity and tone on the drums but particularly, the cymbals and the average sizing means that for most this stick will be fairly comfortable straight away. USABILITY: Being slightly longer and thicker, the Nisan Stewart signature model feels great in hand and really does the work for you, providing projection from the drums. CONSTRUCTION: Nisan’s stick is a 5B or .605” in diameter. But crucially has a ¼ inch more length than a regular 5B for added reach and weight. Vater’s excellent stick manufacturing techniques shine through with a great feeling, pitch matched stick made from hickory for durability. OVERALL: I personally like 5B sticks so I instantly found this stick to be comfortable. But the best reason I liked it was the fact that I’m not the hardest hitter so the extra length provided a hint more volume and that’s a good thing on those louder gigs.
PG. 42 MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
RRP: $49.95
RRP: $399
RRP: $139
RRP: $16.95
DRUM & PERCUSSION SPECIAL HARDCASE COLOURED SNARE DRUM CASE
RRP: $129
HARDCASE HARDROCK STYLE SNARE DRUM CASE
PRODUCT TYPE: CASES DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
PRODUCT TYPE: SNARE DRUM CARRY CASE DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: The regular gigging drummer or players that don’t want to dish out heaps of dollars for heavy flight cases. Also recommended for players that are a little rough with loading gear. VERSATILITY: Hardcase’s original design remains the way to go. Oversized, overlapping lids mean one case can cater for a variety of depth drums. They also all have nesting capabilities for storage. USABILITY: All clips are wide and strong and give a sense of confidence when used. The handles are better made than previous years models with rubber housing that feel good in hand. This is important particularly with bigger cases but if you happen to have that crazy heavy snare – the same goes. Cases are designed also to stack well if you have a few with out falling over. CONSTRUCTION: Like a Tonka truck. You can basically throw these cases over a cliff and they won’t break. Extremely durable, with foam pieces lining where the drum sits. This case was in a funky bright green so unlike before, drummers can personalise the look of their gear. Available colours are: Blue, Green, Bright Blue, Bright Green, Red, Pink, Yellow and White. OVERALL: Basically the industry standard for drum hard carry/ protection these days. If you have the space in the car, you can’t go wrong.
RECOMMENDED FOR: The working drummer who needs ultimate protection for their gear – either just around town or more particularly for flying. VERSATILITY: The hardrock case features the same famous features as the orginials with an oversized, overlapping lid to cater for a variety of depth snares, nesting capabilities for storage and a design that allows for safe stacking. USABILITY: No mucking around with zips means quick unpack and repack. Also, no need to wrap the drum, get fiddly with the perfect fit etc. Just whack it in and go. CONSTRUCTION: Very similar to the standard Hardcase models, this ‘Hardrock’ model features some extras such as full foam lining inside the case as well has a grey granite look exterior giving real presence for those drummers looking for a good looking case as well as a functional one. Build tough as nails, the case itself is super durable with wider clips and comfortable carry handles. OVERALL: As good as it gets? Basically. The full foam lining is actually very welcomed as this protects even the fittings and hardware on your snare drum. The drum won’t move inside the case and has guaranteed protection from impact – such as being loaded onto a plane or dropped off stage, down stairs. Just need a big boot for a full set.
RHYTHM TECH DRUM KIT PACK ONE (RTDK1)
RRP: $139
RHYTHM TECH DRUM KIT PACK 2 (RTDK2)
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES
RECOMMENDED FOR: For every drummer that has ever thought, “I need more cowbell”, and haven’t you all at some point, and wouldn’t mind a tambourine to compliment it, the Drum Kit Pack houses both neatly together. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: The DPK allows you to expand the sound of your kit with just a simple addition. The tambourine is full sounding and the 5 inch cowbell has enough presence and edge to cut right through the rest of the kit’s sound. USABILITY: It takes a few minutes to assemble and then the DKP is ready to go. It can live on any stand that allows easy access to the tools included and fits into even the most compact of kits where additional stands isn’t an option. CONSTRUCTION: These sets are not made for look, but for sound. Because of this, they are built really tough to take the beating they require to get that sound. You could hammer on the tambourine all day and it isn’t going to budge. OVERALL: Yes, we all need more cowbell and a of-course a solid tambourine is always handy too. So, putting both together in a kit at a great price ticks all the boxes for adding that extra kick and dynamic edge to your sound.
RECOMMENDED FOR: Just about any drummer who wants to expand the array of sounds available to them on their kit. It doesn’t matter what style of music you play, the Drum Kit Pack is going to allow you to further explore your sound. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Comprising of a Drum Set Tambourine and a Moon Block, you can achieve a variety of tones and sounds to bring extra life to your kit. The Moon Block especially allows you to create a variety of clave hits and accents. USABILITY: The set comes with mounting arms, so it is simple to set up and attach to your kit. Once installed, you’ll wish you had sooner as it provides some of those extra special tricks that will add to your performance. CONSTRUCTION: Basically, these things are built to take just about anything you throw at them. I cannot see how the Moon Block could ever wear or get damaged and the tambourine is built will take a solid beating, built tough. OVERALL: This is a simple addition to any kit that ticks all the boxes. It gives you a variety of tones without taking up too much space and will fit into just about any kit with some spare space on the arm of the stands for mounting.
RHYTHM TECH HAT TRICK G2 (RT721)
RRP: $49.95
RHYTHM TECH DOUBLE HAT TRICK (RT742)
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES
RECOMMENDED FOR: Although quite similar to the Hat Trick G2 with nickel bells, this brass bell version gives a mellower tone that might be suited to a wider range of players who do not want the sizzle of a typical Hat Trick added to their hi-hat sound. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: What you get with this model is a subtle, deeper sound that doesn’t resonate quite so long or as harshly. The bottom mounted bells are free to move cleanly for added chime, but with more depth due to their brass construction. USABILITY: Being in the G2 range of Hat Tricks, the range of use with the RT721 is limited to your laziness really. It is so simple to add or remove it to your hats; you have no excuse for not using one when a certain song calls for that added tone. CONSTRUCTION: Although it is made from a plastic frame, this unit is designed to be hit with your sticks, so it is strong and sturdy. You don’t have to worry about wearing the threads out on the locking nut either as there are none! OVERALL: The light weight design means you don’t feel the added weight on the pedal when you open the clutch for your hats making it easy to adapt to using the G2. It is going to open your sound right up and give your kit added tone in a matter of moments.
RECOMMENDED FOR: The Double Hat Trick really jumps out with added volume and added weight too. It is more suited to players who really want to liven up their kit and stand out on the stage. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: For hard hitting players who want maximum impact, the Double Hat Trick is going to give you just that. It gives you a richer sound with more punch and less sizzle than the standard Hat Trick. USABILITY: As with the Hat Trick, the double belled version does tend to overtake your hi-hat sound, in fact even more so. It can be limiting in use at times, but can also be used to achieve really great results when you want that effect. CONSTRUCTION: The locking nut grips the hi-hat top rod firmly and doesn’t usually need adjustment throughout a set, just like the single unit. The bells run both up and down from the support frame, securely fastened enough to suffer stray hits from your sticks. OVERALL: This is a real powerhouse of sound when used with a heavy hitting drummer. It brings your hi-hats forward in the mix and makes them stand up with the rest of your cymbals in volume whilst adding a very different tone at the same time.
RHYTHM TECH HAT TRICK (RT740)
RRP: $45
RHYTHM TECH HAT TRICK G2 (RT720)
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC SUPPLIES
RECOMMENDED FOR: Great for jazz and fusion players who want a little something extra on their hi-hats. The Hat Trick mounts easily to your hi-hats and gives you the added sparkle and life of a tambourine to your kit. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Opening and closing the clutch will give you the tambourine sound, the more aggressive action you use, the more prominent it becomes. It allows you to add this sound without needing to actually hit a separate tambourine. USABILITY: Not for everyone, the Hat Trick does become a fixture on your hi-hat sound. Although it can be removed between songs, it doesn’t really have a muting option, so your hats will always have that extra sizzle. CONSTRUCTION: The single layer of bells is secured onto the welded frame firmly, with long shafts to allow for maximum movement. The locking nut grips the hi-hat top rod firmly and doesn’t usually need adjustment throughout a set. OVERALL: Obviously, the Hat Trick gives a very specific sound, but for those drummer who want to add some extra life to their kit without breaking the bank, it does give you a very different dynamic in the sound of your hats.
RECOMMENDED FOR: The Hat Trick G2 is really something that could be used for all players and all styles. The added versatility with easy mounting means you can add it to your sound when you want, allowing any song to have some added sparkle. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: With the bells mounted below the frame for ease of movement, you have the added option of striking the rubber padded frame ring to create an even greater range of sounds with the G2. USABILITY: The quick release locking mechanism means the G2 Hat Trick can now be brought in and out of your sound quickly and easily. I think a number of drummers would like to use one, now that they aren’t stuck with the sound for every song. CONSTRUCTION: The quick release mechanism feels sturdy enough and firmly locks onto the hi-hat top rod without slipping when stuck with a stick. The plastic frame keeps the unit lighter, allowing it to move more freely with the action of the clutch. OVERALL: Rhythm Tech have taken a great product and made it all the more usable. Suddenly, the Hat Trick can be opened up to an even greater range of uses and sounds to further enhance your performance.
AUGUST 2012
RRP: $149
RRP: $139
RRP: $55
RRP: $49.95
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 43
DRUM & PERCUSSION SPECIAL EVANS EQ BASS DRUM MUFFLING PAD
VATER 12” CHOP BUILDER SINGLE SIDED SPLIT
RRP: $45
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA
PRODUCT TYPE: ACCESSORIES DISTRIBUTOR: ELECTRIC FACTORY
RECOMMENDED FOR: Great for use in any style of music, allowing the kick drum to be dampened and tonally adjusted for solid low end. Whether you are using a cocktail kit or a big rock rig, it will serve a purpose. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: This handy addition to any sized kick drum reduces unwanted snap in the kick drum to tighten the sound and emphasise the thump. It allows the kick drum to attain a very distinct sound from the rest of the kit. USABILITY: The EQ PAD is so simple to use. You do not need to be an engineer to get it to work well, just place it inside your kick drum as per the instructions and try a few positions to see which works best for the tone you’re after. CONSTRUCTION: Made with a felt outer and soft padding, the EQ PAD doesn’t bear the brunt of the beater, so it is going to work year after year without ever getting worn out. Once installed, you won’t need to upgrade or repair anything. OVERALL: For a simple solution to a booming kick drum that washes out the mix, the EQ PAD couldn’t be easier. You could spend hours tuning your heads and countless dollars replacing skins, or you can save all that time and money and get an EQ PAD.
RECOMMENDED FOR: All drummers needing a solid pad for practice and something that can provide a couple of rebound surfaces to simulate different parts of the drumkit. SOUND AND VERSATILITY: Split surface provides two levels of rebound. One side is very hard, more like playing a cymbal and the other is more your standard pad feel. Bigger size is welcomed given the surface is split up. Also, it depends on what sort of pad feel you like as to whether you’ll be into this or not. USABILITY: The regular surface felt like home immediately, good rebound and nice feel coming back through the stick. The harder surface wasn’t as comfortable – however, this is probably deliberate, as it’s designed to give you the challenge of being comfortable on any surface. Non-slip cut out additions underside means no movement on tables and there’s a screw housing for mounting on a cymbal stand. CONSTRUCTION: Solid wood build with metal mounting hole and durable rubber rebound surfaces – the Vater looks and feels the biz. OVERALL: The only downside is the bigger size pad is fairly weighty and makes it less portable. I can imagine players leaving this pad set up for home practice only. Good solid product.
THE DRUM KEY
Crash/Ride Cymbal
RRP: $62.95
Crash Cymbal
Hi-Hat Clutch Tom Skins
High & Middle Toms
Hi-Hats Boom Cymbal Stand
Snare Drum
Tom Mount Bracket
Floor Tom
Bass Drum
Hi-Hat Pedal
Bass Drum Skin
DISTRIBUTION DETAILS DISTRIBUTOR:
PHONE:
WEBSITE:
AUSTRALASIAN MUSICAL SUPPLIES DYNAMIC MUSIC ELECTRIC FACTORY JADE AUSTRALIA D’ADDARIO AUSTRALIA MUSIC LINK AUSTRALIA
(03) 9549 1500 (02) 9939 1299 (03) 9474 1000 1800 144 120 (03) 8761 6293 (03) 9765 6565
www.austmusic.com.au www.dynamicmusic.com.au www.elfa.com.au www.jadeaustralia.com.au www.daddario.com www.musiclink.com.au
PG. 44 MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012
PEAVEY 3120 HEAD
FAITH NAKED SERIES FKM MERCURY PARLOUR aim is to create a perfect marriage between material, structure and inspiration. This is how I approach everything I design or build.” SOLID GOLD The idea behind the Naked series is to make Faith guitars more accessible from a budgetary perspective while still showing off exactly what makes the brand special: a handcrafted, all-solid instrument. So the bells and whistles are stripped back and only the real gold remains. The FKM (Mercury Faith Naked) is a small, Parlour-sized instrument. It’s handcrafted in the same Indonesian workshops that make the company’s regular Natural, HiGloss, Trembesi and Eclipse models. It has a solid Engelmann Spruce top and solid Mahogany back and sides; a two-stage satin finish; a rosewood fretboard, bridge and headplate; chrome plated tuning heads; and a 2mm abalone soundhole rosette. The visuals are quite understated: there’s no body binding, and the abalone rosette doesn’t really draw attention to itself. The F logo at the twelfth fret is the only inlay. SHOOTS, SCORES The FKM is a very loud guitar. It doesn’t look loud - in fact you’d probably expect it to sound downright boxy given the size, but it kicks out sound like you wouldn’t believe! There’s a strong midrange character which makes it great for acoustic blues, single-note lines and rhythmic fingerpicking. Lay in hard with a pick and the sound shoots across the room. Playability is great too, with low but buzz-free action. The workmanship is far better than you might expect in this price range. Faith guitars are the brainchild of Patrick James Eggle, the legendary British luthier who has built guitars for such big names as Brian May, Midge Ure and even Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. Eggle’s previous company, which was well known for its electric guitars, still exists under different ownership, but Eggle now makes guitars under the Patrick James Eggle brand as well as the Faith line. “Guitar design hasn’t changed much in the past century, but one thing that has, is the way that the design is implemented,” Eggle says. “My goal has always been to take the classic, established design and redefine what can be expected from it. The true art of guitar-making is selecting the very best tone-woods and ensuring they are handled correctly. My ultimate
Not everybody is going to want a Parlour guitar, but everyone owes it to themselves to try this little bruiser. It’s surprisingly articulate and toneful, and even if you think you’d feel funny playing such a small guitar onstage, you’ll find lots of use for it in the studio. By Peter Hodgson RRP: $649 Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
FAITH NAKED SERIES FKN NEPTUNE BABY JUMBO
One of the biggest independently owned musical instrument and pro audio suppliers in the world, Peavey don’t just sit back and watch the world change. From guitar gear to pro audio and pa equipment they are still committed to research and development and have had good success with guitar amps in particular. Early associations with Eddie Van Halen and then moving onto the 6505, Classic series and Triple XXX amps Peavey gear has been used by a range of players from Bullet For My Valentine to Sevendust to Lynard Skynard and Ted Nugent. CHECK YO GRILLE With 120 watts of power on tap the 3120 is a 3 channel amp - clean, rhythm and lead. The clean channel has vol, bass, mid and treble whilst the rhythm and lead channels feature the same lineup along with a gain knob for adding some dirt. Well laid out, the faceplate is rounded off with a master volume, input jack, channel select switch and flip switches for power and standby. A tough looking character the 3120’s combination of metal grille, black tolexing and corners sit well against the white fonts and chicken head style knobs - cool. A range of outs, effects loop, impedance selector, bias points and damping switch further adds to the flexibility of the 3120 and should cover most bases for the rock/ metal player. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Peavey have gone for 4 EL34s and 4 12AX7s under the hood of this 120 watt beast and you’re not going to have any shortage of juice. Designed to work well through 4, 8 or 16 ohm cabs I gave the 3120 a run into both an 8 and 16 ohm speaker cab with good results. Typically Metal players would go for a pristine verging on hifi clean tone (as opposed to an
NAKED CHIC The Faith Naked Neptune is a Baby Jumbo design, with nicely rounded shoulders and lower bout and a large headstock. It looks nicely balanced. It features solid Mahogany back and sides (no glossy finish here!) with a
PG. 46 MIXDOWN NO. 220
RRP: $699 Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
AUGUST 2012
RRP: $2299 Distributor: Audio Products Phone: (02) 9669 3477 Website: www.audioproducts.com.au
GOTTA HAVE FAITH The fretboard is rosewood with a single inlay at the twelfth fret - the Faith ‘F’ logo - and the fretboard, bridge and headstock face plate are all rosewood. There’s a simple 2mm abalone rosette around the soundhole, and a smoothly sculpted cutaway to grant access to the higher frets. It features the same Shadow PerformerTuner preamp and Nanoflex pickup found on Faith’s regular models. The preamp features a built-in tuner with a nicely visible display; Treble, Midrange, Bass and Volume controls; a phase switch; and a low battery light. It’s a pretty simple system which gives you a decent amount of control without complicating things with excess processing.
ALL TOGETHER NOW It’s also worth noting that the fretwork is very good. Up until very recently it seemed like a lot of acoustic guitar companies overlooked this crucial final step in making a guitar play well, but Faith, much like the LAGs reviewed elsewhere in this issue, is nailing it right now. If you’re a player who likes to explore the upper reaches of the fretboard, or perform intricate simultaneous rhythm/ bass/melody parts, you’ll find that the FKN has the sonic sensitivity and the tactile playability to help bring it all together with ease.
By Peter Hodgson
By Nick Brown
and solid Mahogany back and sides. The body and neck are all finished in a two-stage satin which keeps costs down and seems quite durable. It also allows the woods to resonate more freely than a thick finish would.
SPRUCE GOOSE The lack of a finish really allows the solid Engelmann Spruce top to ring out and vibrate. There’s a huge sense of fullness and body to chords. Strum hard and the attack is immediate. The note doesn’t bloom and blossom: it simply hits and sustains. There’s also plenty of high end. Jumbos can go either way when it comes to treble but this one has plenty of brightness to temper the ample low end. It walks the fine line between ‘togetherness’ and note separation, so if you have the technique to handle it you’ll find that the FKN is a great all-rounder for players who fingerpick as well as strum.
Patrick James Eggle’s Faith Naked series is a cool way of giving players access to his acoustic guitar designs and handcrafted workmanship in a cost-effective package. A guitar like this FKN (Faith Naked Neptune) with a full list of cosmetic features would run significantly higher than this instrument’s recommended retail price.
BIG BOY This amp is definitely aimed at metal and heavier rock styles and bangs plenty of features and headroom into its tough exterior. The 3 channels make for plenty of variation whilst additions like the damping switch and ability to switch the power amp section use 6l6GCs if you wish adds more features to your lineup. There are certain elements you need for a good metal tone, with good EQ and sonic range and a robust clean tone to boot - the 3120 does a killer job of both and looks a good option for those wanting channel switching metal goodness.
FAITH NAKED SERIES FKV FAITH NAKED VENUS
solid Engelmann Spruce top with a subtly understated grain pattern. There’s a fine 2mm abalone soundhole rosette, chrome plated tuners, rosewood fretboard, bridge and headstock faceplate, and a simple Faith ‘F’ logo at the twelfth fret. It’s minimalist and simply ‘right’ from a design perspective: not just a ‘guitar design’ perspective but a ‘graphic/industrial design’ one as well.
The FKN does not have a preamp or pickup, so if you want to hear it amplified you’ll need to either mic it up or use an aftermarket pickup. But that doesn’t even really matter, because the guitar’s actual, real-world tone is so good. There are better-suited fingerpickers in the Faith range and better-suited strummers but this is very much a great-sounding, great-playing all-rounder for players who need to do it all.
old valve sound) and I dug what I heard here. Patch in some of your own verb, delay or modulation and you’ve got a solid base to work with. Tap into the rhythm or lead channel and see where the 3120 really excels though. Tough, valve distortion where you can really work the gain, volume and master volume controls to set your tone and level and the amp will keep up. I liked Peavey’s EQ section making for super scooped modern tones or adding some more mids for more of an old school heavy rock vibe. The fact that there are 3 channels with independent EQ is a plus especially if you want to set different levels and do a lot of switching mid song.
A handmade cutaway electro acoustic with a recommended retail price of less than $800? Designed by Patrick James Eggle? The FKV (Faith Naked Venus) has ‘hit’ written all over it. But you wouldn’t see it on a passing glance, because it’s so visually understated that there’s hardly anything on it. All of its resources are directed towards tone and playability. YOUR DESIRE The Faith Naked Venus, like the other guitars in the Naked range, has a solid Engelmann Spruce top
Unplugged, the FKV has a quite midrange-heavy, treble-attenuated tone which makes it a good allrounder and an especially good solo instrument. It’s the kind of sound that you can vary quite a lot by how you pick. Catch the string with the edge of a fingernail or with a pick and some of the roundedoff treble returns, or play more gently and the sound becomes softer again. Plugged in, the treble can be restored somewhat via the preamp, and the mids can be reigned back for more of a dreadnaught-like sound. But the character of the guitar remains. Like the other Faiths on review here, this one has great fretwork and playably low-medium action, so you’ll probably feel like wandering all over the neck. The Naked series is a great way of stripping out the things that don’t necessarily matter - namely, cosmetics and costly finishing processes - leaving behind a very pure representation of Faith’s visual, ergonomic and sonic goals. Give it a try! By Peter Hodgson
RRP: $799 Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
S.U.B. RAY4-WS BASS GUITAR
This gets a bit tricky, so bare with me. Originally there was Music Man, a company co-founded by Leo Fender which made instruments and amplifiers. One of their developments was the Stingray bass, which Sterling Ball helped to design. This company was eventually sold to Ernie Ball. In the 2000s, certain Ernie Ball Music Man designs were the basis for a budget line called OLP (which quite blandly stood for Official Licensed Product). They were great budget instruments but eventually that came to an end. Then there was (and is) Sterling By Music Man, which offers mid-priced (and brilliant) instruments based on classic MM designs. Now there’s S.U.B. by Sterling by Music Man to cater to the budget end of the market again. These instruments were debuted at NAMM this year and they feature several classic Music Man designs, one of which is the StingRay, in the form of the Ray4 four-string and Ray5 five-string. SPEC CHECK The Ray4 is available in three colours: Black (BK), White (WH) and Walnut Stain (WS). Each features a solid hardwood body, and through the transparent finish of the Walnut Stain version on review you can see that it’s made of three pieces. The maple neck features a rosewood fretboard on the WS and WH models, or a maple fretboard on the BK and the Ray5. And all the key Music Man features are here: the split 3/1 tuning key layout; the curved control plate; the proprietary bridge design which adds mass and increases the amount of metal making contact with the body for better string energy transfer; the sturdy six-bolt neck joint. Even the neck profile feels unmistakably Music Man-derived. The electronics include a humbucker which looks just like the ‘real deal’ Music Man model, joined to a volume control and a two-band active EQ (Treble and Bass, each capable of boosting or cutting its selected frequency). Battery access is through an
easily accessible compartment in the back. PLAYTIME The Ray4’s playability is exceptional, not only for a bass in this price range but for a bass in general. A bit part of this is the fretwork. It’s totally flawless in terms of the fret ends, which plays a big role in enhancing playability. The frets themselves aren’t exactly polished shiny but they’re still quite good. And sustain is incredible. This bass has a really nice natural tone which translates well to the pluggedin sound. The EQ gives the humbucker a wider range of sounds than would otherwise be available, including great slap/pop sounds, and you can get some nice deep dubby tones by turning the bass up and the treble down. There’s not quite as much dimension as the top-dollar US-made Music Man pickup, of course, but because this version uses the same dimensions you could easily upgrade the pickup down the track. EVERYBODY LOVES RAY The S.U.B. Ray4 is a far better bass than you would expect at this price range, especially in playability and construction. The sounds, too, are better than you could honestly expect. The Ray4 sums up everything that beginning players or budgetconscious experienced ones expect in a Ray-spec bass, and it does so with Music Man’s own approval. By Peter Hodgson
RRP: $495 Distributor: CMC Music Phone: (02) 9905 2511 Website: www.cmcmusic.com.au
TC ELECTRONIC BG250 BASS COMBO TC Electronic just ooze cool. Trendy aesthetics, killer tones, modern features and innovations and solid products. Founded in 1976, the Denmark brand has been responsible for a host of studio and live instrument and pro audio units for everyone from the bedroom player right up to whizz bang studios. Adding to their amplifier range and incorporating some of their latest technology TC have developed the BG range of bass combo amps.
PORT OF CALL If you’ve seen anything TC Electronic in the last year or so you’ve no doubt heard of their TonePort technology. Giving users the ability to download or ‘beam’ presets from the web to their device gives access to effects and sounds designed by TC Electronics and selected endorsers. The BG250 comes with TC’s SCF Bass Chorus loaded standard meaning the Toneprint dial blends in this effect to your existing sound. You can then obviously download and access a heap more effects - compression, octaver, vibrato, delay or whatever you need to use. Pretty cool technology that is still being developed further allowing for more effects, sounds and tweakability.
Everyone knows that Pacific Drums & Percussion (PDP) is basically a cheaper alternative to parent company Drum Workshop (DW) right? Well, yes, but really, that’s not really giving a fair overview for a brand of drums that have really held a place in the market for some years now. The fact is that DW are responsible for these drums and frankly, they know what they’re doing so as a result, drummers have access to drums that really do sound good and are affordable. PDP’s Concept Series is a brand new line of drums – and it’s all good news really. The Concept series takes over from where the very popular X7 series stops and you get a whole host of great features usually reserved for the daddy Collectors Series DW. It’s aimed to give drummers of all budgets the availability of a good kit at a good price with a bunch of different configuration choices. LOOK/BUILD The kit I got to spend some time with was the mammoth 7-piece Concept Maple (CM7) in a very striking Pearlescent White lacquer finish. Drums are DW’s researched F.A.S.T sizes, which are slightly shorter - toms are 8”x7”, 10”x8”, 12”x9”; floor toms floor toms are 14”x12”, 16”x14”; bass drum 22”x18”; snare 14”x5.5”. Some of the cool features include 7-ply all maple shells, graduated counter hoops, copper snare wires, die-cast claw hooks on the bass drum, single ply heads by Remo, a suspension tom mount system using a ball joint and DW true-pitch tension rods which use a finer size thread and give more precise tuning. Then you also get some great features from the Performance Series DW drums such as slick dual turrent lugs and the now famous MAG snare throw off the uses a magnet to hold the wires in place when the snare is engaged. It’s a smooth, simple design that, due to not having a lot of working parts means for years of perfect, fuss free usability. FINISHING TOUCH The CM7 looks great – very striking with just enough ‘mean’ to catch your eye. You also know it’s got a
DW heritage now that DW have put their name on the badge. I was complacent and a little sceptical about who in the world would be able to afford this configuration, but my scepticism changed to a dropped jaw when I was told the price of the 7-piece – and it comes with some MEINL cymbals and genuine DW 3000 series hardware. Jeepers! That would set you up for some good times. You can mix and match the drums to make any configuration you want. 3-piece through to the full monty – rock kit, funk kit. Choice is yours depending on the gig. There’s a bunch of different finishes and you can even order more drums to suit your needs or get a configuration in birch. SOUND Punchy and full, the CM7 delivers some nice depth from its shells. The bass drum and snare are special standouts. The kick is fat and all the drum you would need or would expect and the snare has little overtones, a focused tone and is very sensitive all round. The toms were a little difficult to get the best out of but I’m nitpicking because the stock single ply clear heads never represent what drums are capable of and every drummer knows a new drum kit deserves a re-skin immediately after purchasing. That said, the drums sound good, wide open with no dampening straight out of the box and the more I played the more I liked. I would imagine this kit would be awesome with some coated single plys or 2-ply heads. There is tone available for the taking. Overall, the CM7 is a really good step in the right direction for PDP. You get a lot of drums for your money. By Adrian Violli
RRP: $2299.99 Distributor: Intermusic Distribution Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.imd.com.au
SHURE SVX DUAL WIRELESS MICROPHONE SYSTEM
MODERN LOVE Often overlooked as a little harder to handle and perhaps not quite as flexible as a head a cab rig TC Electronic have really upped the stakes with the BG 250. 250 watts, 15” speaker and tweeter and weighing in at only 16kgs it’s darn light, easy to manoeuvre and easily compact enough to sit on the front or back car seat. Modelled with TC Electronics newer design looks - black tolex, bigger circle hole grill plate and red touches in keeping with the Toneprint integration. The BG 250 looks great and modern but not too ‘out there’. JAM PACKED Feature wise the control panel has a Gain knob with clipping led, Bass, Middle and Treble controls, Tubedrive level and on/off button, Toneprint level knob and On/Off button, Master Volume, Pedal Input jack, USB input, Tuner with led, Mute button with led, micro jack Aux In, Headphone Out and a Balanced Output with led and button for Pre or Post EQ. So much jam packed into this unit - but all handy and relevant!
PDP CM7 SERIES DRUM KIT
A great amp, I am really impressed with the BG250s list of features, TC’s constant development and exploration of new technology and above all the great range of tones on tap. Clean, round vintage sounds or dial in some Tubedrive and balance the Gain for a little edginess right through to razor distortion. Thanks to the Toneprint facility you could then harness the SCF bass chorus (great for fattening or pulling out some ‘80s lines) or grab a compressor or octaver and funk away. The BG250’s 15” holds up to some serious volume and you get nice response and feeling that the amp is really working with you. Another great offering from TC Electronic and a cool midsized rig option for those looking for good headroom, some extra features and a solid package. Ace! By Nick Brown
RRP: $799 Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
When it comes to microphones, there really isn’t a bigger name out there than Shure. For every application and at every price point, Shure is bound to have a microphone to suit your needs. Now, they have just released a new range of low priced wireless systems called SVX that is sure to offer a wider audience the ability to hear what Shure is all about. The SVX Dual Wireless system comprises of a SVX88 dual channel diversity receiver and a par of SVX2 PG58 wireless microphones, perfect for applications where two singers or presenters are working together and don’t want to bother with separate systems and complicated setup procedure. EASY INSTALL It really can’t get any simpler to have two wireless microphones working together, and at such an amazing price too. The SVX system can be up and running in just a couple of minutes, with both microphones operating on separate channels to avoid interference. Unscrewing the base of each of the PG58 microphones allows you to install the two AA batteries required for operation and set the transmitting channel for the microphone. On the rear of the receiver, you can easily match the two sides to each of the microphone’s channels, adjust the level and connect either a 6.5mm jack or an XLR cable for both outputs to your mixer and you are ready to go.
ALL INCLUSIVE When you purchase an SVX system, everything you need is in the box, short of the cables and mixer, of course. The antennae for the receiver are fixed, so you don’t need to worry about attaching them, batteries are included and only one power supply is required to get the both microphones received. You also get two large throated, rubberised microphone clips to suit the larger diameter of the handles, which is always handy. The microphones themselves are extremely lightweight, with plastic housings, so you don’t feel like you are lugging around a brick as can often be the case with some wireless microphones. Inside the protective cage, the capsule features a small plastic plate over the centre to enhance the pickup pattern and also reduce unwanted popping and sibilance when used close to the singers mouth. What this offers is a clear a precise audio capture in a microphone that doesn’t carry the price tag of similar units. The SVX series is an excellent option for bands that want to break free of their microphone leads without grat expense. The dual system allows two singers to experience the same freedom and works well for presentation and simple speaking applications too. As a starting point for a wireless system, or as a backup system to expand on an existing microphone kit, the new SVX range from Shure is a great option. By Rob Gee
RRP: $619 Distributor: Jands Phone: (02) 9582 0909 Website: www.jands.com.au
AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN PG. 47
MARKDRUM YES1 ELECTRONIC DRUMKIT
TC HELICON MIC MECHANIC sleeve. You get to choose from Room, Club and Hall reverbs as well as Slap and Echo delay effects or three combinations of reverb and delays to give your voice the added body that can make a performance come to life. INCREDIBLY EASY Setting up the Mic Mechanic is a breeze. You run it in line with you microphone signal, like a guitarist would with their effects pedals. An XLR input is fed from the microphone and an XLR output runs to the desk. Once plugged in, you simply choose the desired reverb, delay or combination and adjust the Wet/Dry mix to suit the room. Then you can turn it on and off as you please. If that wasn’t enough, you can also wind in an auto-detecting pitch correction function that keeps your voice as close to pitch as possible without ripping your vocals apart and making you sound like a computerised experiment. This can be added in to the desired amount for very subtle assistance in taming any notes that may just wander slightly out of pitch.
The new Mic Mechanic from TC Helicon is giving vocalists the ease of effects that guitarists have too long enjoyed all to themselves. This simple stomp box style effects unit allows vocalists to bring some extra magic into their performance quickly and easily without losing any quality in tone or signal. For too long the guitarists have had it good with a wide range of effects pedals to suit all their needs, now, it seems, is the age of the voice and TC Helicon a determined to help out. VOICETONE TONE Coming from the Voicetone series of vocal effects, the Mic Mechanic is a simple, one button stomp box to bring some extra life to your vocal performance without relying on the engineer to set your effects for you. It’s even handier for smaller gigs where there simply is no engineer and you want to get the most from your voice. Essentially the Mic Mechanic is a reverb pedal, but it has a few extra tricks up its
THE FINISHED PRODUCT If this little unit hasn’t already given enough reasons to run out and buy one, there is a further feature that really puts the icing on the cake. Engaging the tone button initiates a gentle EQ and compression circuit that almost acts like a gentle polish for you vocals. It is hard to explain exactly how it sounds, it almost sounds like it does nothing, in fact. You can barely notice any difference when you engage the Tone switch. But, if you turn it off, you will quickly notice how flat and lifeless your vocal was to begin with. This is the essence of a great effect. It isn’t enough to be noticeable when engaged, but it is enough to stand out when it is removed. The Mic Mechanic is not a vocal coach, but it is going to get your voice running smoothly every time. By Rob Gee
RRP: $269 Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
PEAVEY XPORT USB GUITAR INTERFACE things simple, so you can spend more time playing guitar and less time setting up interfaces and cables. It’s a small device, about the size of many popular smart phones and connects to the computer via USB, thus requiring no external power source. There is a 6.5mm Hi-Z guitar input for going directly into the computer from your instrument, a headphone out, on a 3.5mm jack socket for monitoring and a stereo output, also on a 3.5mm jack socket. That is about it, except for two buttons on the side for raising or lowering the volume. Plug it in, let the computer detect the device and you are ready to go. The drivers are included on a CD in the packet along with ReValver HP SE virtual tube amplifier software and Reaper audio recording software. These are easy to install and allow you to use the computer as an amp simulator, recording device or both.
For those of you who are wanting to record your guitar tracks into a computer but do not want to bother with overly complex setups or interfaces that offer all sorts of extra options that you won’t use, you are often faced with a bit of a dilemma. So often the magic of recording is taken away by the technology that gets in the way. What Peavey have done with the XPort is to try to simplify the process so you don’t feel like you are running a computer system and can focus more on playing your guitar. BACK TO BASICS Remember when you used to use a four-track to record your guitar to cassette tapes? You might be showing you age, but you will also remember the ease and how that disappeared with the advent of computer recording. Now, it couldn’t be simpler and the computer can be used as a helpful tool, a medium for recording you music, and not a hindrance. The XPort has been designed to keep
PG. 48 MIXDOWN NO. 220
DIGITAL EMULATION The ReValver software allows you to get classic Peavey guitar amplifier tones from the clean guitar signal you send into your computer. So, you can run this as a standalone platform and allow your computer to become you amplifier. This makes practise at home simple and easy when you can’t turn your amp stack up to full volumes and need to play with headphones, whilst still getting a great tone. You can use this software with many DAWs if you already have a recording platform of choice, or you can record with the included Reaper software, meaning that there isn’t anything else you need to buy to get your guitar tracks recorded once you have the XPort. It is a simple, compact and no fuss alternative to some of the recording rigs that are available today. Get one home and get recording now. By Rob Gee
RRP: $89 Distributor: Audio Products Group Phone: (02) 9669 3477 Website: www.audioproducts.com.au
AUGUST 2012
MarkDrum may sound unfamiliar for a drum manufacture but the Mark name is actually very well known among musicians, having been responsible for the very popular ranges of MarkBass amplification in recent years. The Italian company have branched out and have released their brand new electronic drumkit – the YES1 – a kit they say is capable of taking on the acoustic benchmarks for sound and feel. HEY GOOD LOOKIN’ Initial looks at the new kit are positive. It looks good. I actually wasn’t surprised at this as the range of MarkBass amps are aimed to be aesthetically pleasing as well as producing a good sound. The kit features the same black and orange trademark colour scheme and has bucketloads of presence. Some of the features on this kit, on paper, are quite extraordinary. Where most of the effort has gone is in getting the most realistic feel and usability to effectively replicate an acoustic drumkit. The ‘smart’ mesh pads do the all signal processing digitally inside each unit rather than merely conveying the signal to the module for processing via a conventional style two channels coaxial cable. The pads can therefore have multiple microprocessors, process the trigger (however sensitive) and send that to the sound module to apply the required sound as assigned. This also means the YES1 can boast a hot spot removal feature that eliminates any spikes in volume when the player hits close or directly above the trigger location because each pad has multiple locations. FEATURE PACKED The YES1 in standard form offers 4 redesigned 10” mesh heads for snare and three rack toms and Hi-Hat, Crash and Ride choke-able pads plus a rubber bass drum pad with provided beater. You can expand your YES1 with addition pads, which can be assigned a sound via the module. The mounting rack itself has an internal bus system (this is actually really cool). There are effectively stacks of Ethernet type inputs, all critically positioned on the rack – i.e. near where a pad will be and at the end of each section of rack. Using mini RJ11 cables, you connect all parts of the kit to the nearest input on the rack. This minimises the traditional long ‘guitar lead’ type cabling. It’s neat, cool and very effective. The YES1 module gives you 8 standard inputs and 4 additional inputs, Midi in/Midi out, USB, headphone and
AUX connectivity, 24 drumkit presets made from over 10,000 recorded samples to cover a bunch of different styles straight out of the box, a 4GB CF card (included), standard effects such as reverb, EQ and compression, a metronome with tap tempo and loop record/playback. Let’s be honest now – the main criticism that drummers will make with any electronic kit is the way is sounds and the way it feels. The pads on the YES1 feel good but seemingly familiar. I didn’t find that they were necessarily revolutionary at all but they are tuneable for the required tension that you would like – a good thing – and can be then calibrated to optimum performance. I couldn’t get the calibration to be perfect for me but it wasn’t bad at all, just a little insensitive at times. This said, electronic kits take time to get perfect. They’re designed that way and you would expect to spend more time with an electronic kit than I was able to. Overall, though, the kit feels good and the sensitivity is also good. Cymbal pads are the standard rubber affair but the hi-hat has a good pedal feel and great response. KEEPING IT REAL The YES1 is probably one of the best I’ve heard. The sampling is extensive, accounting for right hand and left hand hits and up to 512 levels of velocity. All sounds and especially the bass drum sound great and… wait for it… are very realistic. Some of the things that also go into this great sound are the patented Creative effects. It’s a great professional electric drumkit. It also costs substantially less than some of its competitors and that’ll be enough for some. Get the calibration right and you’ll be very happy with the result. Just like anything, it might take some time to get used to. By Adrian Violi
RRP: $3495 Distributor: CMC Music Phone: (02) 9905 2511 Website: www.cmcmusic.com.au
ROCKTRON HUSH ULTRA
Rocktron’s Hush technology has been one of the most used noise reduction units for guitar gear and recording setups for years. From their original Hush units in rack form to the ever evolving II, Pro, IICX, Super C models and stomp box sized offerings they’ve continued to be implemented where noise is an issue be it big rigs, recordings or pedal board guitar setups. Now their latest incarnation is the digital stereo Hush Ultra - building on Rocktron’s existing noise reducing units with some modern upgrades and features. SILENT SHOUT A digital stereo single space rack unit the Hush Ultra features true bypass, LCD display, 128 programmable presets with MIDI control, a combination of both jack and xlr input/output and a heap of tweaking possibilities. The front panel then has controls for Preset select, in/out, store/ edit, parameter adjust, parameter select and a push button for guitar level (-10) or audio (+4). REDUCTION TECHNIQUE Noise reduction is a balancing act. Aiming for the eradication of unwanted noise can often be compromised by losing some of the actual sound – be it milliseconds of note decay or delay repeats. Therefore you need to work with both the Hush and Gate threshold levels to find the sweet spot where your guitar sound is full and how you want it to sound but then free from extra unwanted noise. There is plenty of explanation in the manual and the fact that you have plenty of programmable presets means you won’t
have to settle for just one setting for all your varying tones. And whilst the Hush Ultra can clean up your overall tone it really needs to be tweaked to match all your various tones for you to get the maximum out of this unit. Rocktron’s improved Midi capabilities will really appeal to some players now having the ability to program multitudes of Hush settings to go with each patch rather than working on broad brush one suits all type settings. Just whack it in your chain and get programming! ROCK ON Sure most people try and get their existing rig as quiet as possible in the first place with isolated power supplies, high quality cabling, buffers, true bypass pedals, but sometimes there is just going to be some noise. And if that’s above an acceptable level for you it’s going to affect your playing. And remember - you don’t have to be playing huge rigs or huge gigs to use the Hush Ultra. If you’ve got unwanted noise why not try and clean it up? A slick new offering from Rocktron.
By Nick Brown RRP: $449.99 Distributor: Music Link Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.musiclink.com.au
Play. Capture. Stream
Mid Mic
Side Mic Left
Side Mic Right
Zoom brought brilliant HD video and sound to your movies with the Q3HD. Now, with the Q2HD Handy Video Recorder, there’s only one handheld camcorder with both onboard Mid-Side stereo recording and live streaming capabilities. In addition, the Q2HD features an upgraded camera sensor, enhanced user interface and much more for capturing and sharing great looking videos that sound better than ever. 1080P HD • 4x digital zoom • Onboard editing • 24-bit/96 kHz linear PCM sound • Analogue mic gain • Compatible with 64GB SDXC cards • HandyShare software included • Two Year Warranty when purchased from Authorised Australian dealers
dynamicmusic.com.au
facebook.com/ZoomAustralia
LINE 6 STAGESOURCE L3T PA SYSTEM the L3t is a fully integrated system that allows you to run it as a single speaker for small acoustic acts, right up to a big rig setup with additional speaker boxes, sub woofers and remote mixing capabilities. But, as a standalone system, the L3t offers a wide variety of uses that is going to refresh the world of portable PA and keep a lot of musicians and audiences more than happy.
PEARL REFERENCE SERIES
A REAL HERO Built into the side of the L3t is a mixer section that allows a number of devices to be connected even when running just the one unit. You get two combination XLR/ TRS inputs for microphones or guitars with switchable pads and input gain controls. On top of this, you also get two additional auxiliary inputs, one mono input on an XLR connection and one stereo input on an RCA connection. Add a three band EQ circuit, feedback suppression reverb and other effects including acoustic guitar modelling and you have plenty of options all enhanced with the processing power that Line 6 is known for.
With Pearl, it’s refreshing in today’s world to have a company that is the biggest as well as one of the highest quality. The new Reference kits are the next in a long line of top series produced by the drumming giant, and were only released around six months ago. Their famous Masterworks series comes with a custom, ‘design your own’ capability, whereby the drummer can design their own shell composition. The player can choose exactly what percentage of birch, maple and mahogany, depending his or her tastes and requirements as far as warmth or brightness is concerned. So you can have a balance, tone and sound that’s completely unique to yourself. REFERENCE POINT The Reference Series is apparently the ‘ideal’ blend, that is, a near perfect balance of tones, that ensure you get the brightness you require to get the cut and audibility you require with the warmth that you love and make your drums sound so good. But more on the actual sound in a second. As we all know, first impressions do count, and these were fantastic looking drums. The old school granite sparkle finish of the drums I played gave an old school feel to their look, and they were quite unique in appearance. You see very few of those types of finishes on drums. Plus the lug design was just a little different than most you see. Of course, while first looks are indeed important, ultimately it’s the sound that is important, and these bad boys have tone to the max. Tuned up or down, hit hard
MONSTER MASH Well, these speakers sound monstrous. Even used simply for an acoustic guitar and a vocal microphone, you would not expect to get the levels of volume and punch from these speakers that you are presented with. I was certainly surprised when I first heard them. They do have a slightly hi-fi sound to them, not quite having the earthiness of traditional wooden box PA systems, but they do offer a clarity that is quite stunning and don’t lose any quality when the volume is brought right up either.
or soft, these babies sounded the way drums should. But probably what stood out the most was their sheer punch. The rack toms were as resonant as you’d ever want and the 16 inch floor tom had a deep, throaty thwack that sent shivers down your spine. The toms were so nice that I felt like Phil Collins thundering around them during that famous roll in ‘In the Air Tonight’ when I hit them. KICK IT The bass drum was deep, warm and boomy, when played with the new Remo Powerstroke Pro (reviewed elsewhere in The Drum Special), but not in a flabby way. More in the big, fat, old school Bonham-esque way. However, for a slightly more defined sound, of course some internal dampening can be added to get the sound you are after. These drums will sound good in virtually any room and in most musical settings. As you would imagine, the drums have a very heavy duty feel to them, which suggests that they can stand up to the rigours of a working band’s heavy touring schedule. The new Pearl Reference Series of drums are a great all round set, and well worth a test run at your nearest Pearl outlet.
Alright, this is the PA system that has more people talking about its release than any other. You have all been waiting for it and now, Line 6 have finally delivered a system that takes sound reinforcement to the next level. Since they L3t was unveiled at the 2012 Winter NAMM show, there has been plenty of buzz about Line 6’s first foray into PA systems and after hearing these units in action, I can understand why. Whether it is to be used for installation purposes or as a portable PA rig, the L3t from Line 6 delivers on what it has promised, and then some. MULTI-TALENTED Firstly, understand that these are not just another set of PA bins to help amplify your sound. What you get with
Call for pricing
Distributor: Music Link Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.musiclink.com.au
GHS STRINGS
Phone: (03) 9765 6565
whilst nickel produces a warmer tone and it’s this combination that gives you a fat, bright electric tone that still has some warmth and body to it. Feel wise they seem a good combination of not too hard but still with some guts to them. Of course dependant on gauge too but a lot of research goes into their mixes of coatings, windings etc and whilst some people won’t even notice it is interesting to compare the difference in feel of nickel plated steel strings. PHOSPHOR BRONZE ACOUSTIC Phosphor Bronze strings have been a long time favourite for acoustic guitarists thanks to their bright tone and projection. GHS’ new and improved Phosphor Bronze strings feature a ‘special, durable alloy of copper, tin and phosphor wound over a hex core’. This combination is said to deliver a longlasting, rich, bright tone. The redesigned core-tocover ratio gives increased brightness and flexibility without harsh overtones’. Coming in a sealed plastic pack there is definitely more thought given to packaging on both the green front and tone front. Recyclable, less bulky packaging is great whilst GHS’ thinking is an air tight ‘fresh pack’ that ‘locks in factory freshness and locks out corrosion’. It certainly seems like a good idea and reassures you that your strings are going to be brand spanking new whenever you open them! Whilst I played an Extra Light set of 1150 strings they are available in a multitude of gauges so you should be able to find something suits you. Bright and spanky the balance of steel E and B strings and wound for the rest feels nice and even with a pleasant zing when strummed.
Website: www.musiclink.com.au
KEEP IT COOL Referred to as the ‘Mini Fridge’ on Ampeg’s website it does have similarities to the famed big rig but at around 20 kgs the Micro CL is more easier to handle thanks to its smaller size. With strong handles and a slimmer shape you can move the cab and head easily and it will fit in the back seat of your car without any problems.
PG. 50 MIXDOWN NO. 220
RRP: $1999
Distributor: Music Link
switch. The back of the head has outputs for speaker at 8 ohms, a line out and effects loop send/return. Sitting nicely underneath is the Micro Stack CL’s 2x10 cab - big enough to be taken seriously but small enough to still be portable and sit in your practice room or the like. It really does look damn cool with Ampeg’s typical black grille cloth, white piping and silver corners and the CL has that tough Ampeg feel about it too. But don’t think this is just a tiny bedroom practice amp.
MINI ME Like a true stack the Micro CL comprises both head and cab with the head giving 100 watts at 8 ohms. With a both a solid state preamp and power amp the CL head has 0dB and -15 dB inputs (passive/active), then Master, Treble, Mid, Bass and Aux Level controls rounded out with a mini jack Aux Input, Phones output and a Power
By Rob Gee
By Rod Whitfield
AMPEG MICRO CL-STACK AMP
Let’s face it, the Ampeg SVT and fridge are classics. Looks and tone but also damn loud and for quite a lot of people impractical or unrealistic in terms of price or the types of gigs they play. Thankfully Ampeg have a big range of smaller rigs be it heads, cabs or combos. Another option is keeping with the modular ‘fridge’ style but in more of a ‘mini’ vibe. Enter the Ampeg Micro CL-Stack....
Used for stereo front of house applications, as a single speakers for smaller acts or even as a fold back system, rocked back on the floor, the L3t delivers just what it promises. They are big, they are bold and they are heavy. You don’t get this sort of volume and clarity from a small lightweight unit, but that is about the only drawback. Yes, they have a bit of weight to them, but if you think about some PA systems in the past that almost required a forklift to move them about, the L3t is actually a breath of fresh air. Try one out, have a listen and be prepared to be blown away.
MICRO MACHINE Tone wise I really dug the Micro CL. At 100 watts you get enough volume to compete with a small rehearsal and plenty to jam along by yourself or with CDs and the like. The 2x10 cab projects nicely also, with the stacked column design giving plenty of spread as opposed to just sitting on the floor at a low height. Line out means you can go direct to a mixer for live reinforcement or a desk/interface/computer for recording and the Aux input gives the home jammer an easy solution to playing along with backing tracks or CD/mp3 too. Small is cool, mini is cool, the Ampeg Micro CL Stack is cool. Both in looks and sound it’s a winner and a nice change from a the typical small wattage rig. By Nick Brown
RRP: $749 Distributor: Music Link Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.musiclink.com.au
AUGUST 2012
Founded in 1964 GHS strings are a US based manufacturer known for a range of models and gauges including long time guitarist favourites Boomers. Covering the gamut of round wound, flat wound, acoustic, electric, guitar, bass, banjo, steel guitar just to name a few GHS are dedicated to providing a reliable, great sounding string for players of all genres and levels. BOOMERS ROUNDWOUND ELECTRIC Evidently these are GHS’ most popular Electric strings and feature a round wound nickel plated steel. This particular set was 10 - 46 but again you’ve got a host of other gauges to pick from if these aren’t your cup of tea! Stainless Steel is typically bright
STRUNG OUT With so many gauges, types, models and design and production methods these days the string market has opened up to plenty of new manufacturers. GHS have been around for over 40 years and continue to refine their products and techniques to keep up with trends but to also push their designs. A constant performer, be sure to check out GHS if you haven’t already. By Nick Brown
RRP:$11.99 (Boomers Roundwound Electronic), $15.99 (Phosphor Bronze Acoustic) Distributor: Music Link Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.musiclink.com.au
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AUGUST 2012
NO. 220 MIXDOWN
PG. 51
PEARL E-PRO LIVE ELECTRONIC DRUMKIT
FRET-KING JD ELECTRIC GUITAR
Jerry Donahue is an almost unnaturally talented guitarist capable of dizzying feats of technique and melody. A few other companies (Fender and Peavey) have offered Jerry Donahue signature models in the past, and they were fine instruments. But Donahue says his new FretKing trumps them all. Let’s check it out and see if he’s speaking the truth. IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING The JD is made of an extremely light two-piece centrejointed American alder body with a bound ash top and a custom-profiled Canadian Hard Rock Maple neck. The fretboard is maple with a 1 1/4” radius, but the fretboard curve feels shallower than it actually is thanks to its 22 well-finished medium jumbo frets. The scale length is a to-be-expected 25.5” (648mm) to ensure nice spanky string tension. The nut is graphite for better tuning stability. The bridge is a Wilkinson WTBS unit with three intonation-compensated saddles carrying two strings each, and the tuners are Wilkinson WJ05s. A luxury Fret-King carry bag is included. Like Donahue’s previous models, there’s more going on with the electronics here than meets the eye. There are two single coil pickups (Wilkinson WJDTn neck pickup and WJDTb at the bridge position), pretty standard master volume and master tone pots, and a five-way pickup selector switch. Position one is the neck pickup, voiced for a Strat-like sound rather than a Tele voice. Position two is the neck pickup with a special cap engaged to give it a tonal quality reminiscent of a fullbody jazz guitar. Position three is the neck and bridge in parallel. Position four adds a capacitor and resistor four a controlled degree of reversed phase, and this setting is designed to give you the ‘in-between quack tone’ of a Strat-type axe. And position five is the bridge pickup on its lonesome. THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF TONE The JD puts up just a little bit of a fight, but not enough
to be difficult. It has great sustain and attack, which will surprise those who subscribe to the ‘you need a heavy body to get a thick tone’ theory. This thing really packs a wallop but it’s light as a feather. The neck pickup responds very well to enthusiastic pick attack and it sounds gorgeous when played semi-clean. Position two is great for long bluesy bends and smoky jazz lines, and it masks some of the pick attack for a smoother feel. Position three is great for jazz fusion soloing and as a general clean rhythm tone, while position four excels at twangy country and scratchy funk. You can happily chicken-pick in this mode for hours and have a great time. Position five has some sting but it’s not a harsh kind of treble: more bell-like and musical. This pickup encourages you to really dig in and lay down some serious speed, since it tracks so incredibly well that every nuance of your pick attack is clearly translated. All positions are slightly microphonic, so if you tap on the body or yell into the pickups you will definitely hear it clearly through the amp, but this is also probably why the guitar has such great detail. THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM All of the JD’s different sounds are great when played clean and damn near revelatory when paired with a slightly overdriven amp. It keeps up quite nicely with full-on distortion too, although of course the noise level increases alongside the gain. It’s a very capable guitar which is a little easier to play than Donahue’s old Peavey model and a bit more unique than his old Fender. By Peter Hodgson
RRP: $1199 Distributor: National Audio Systems Phone: (03) 9761 5577 Website: www.nationalaudio.com.au
VINTAGE VXP6BK ELECTRIC GUITAR
Pearl are pretty confident with making acoustic drums as everyone knows, but they recently tried their hand at making an electric kit that has changed the game in a few ways. Mainly the way it looks, though with feel and usability Pearl have kicked some goals. RIGHT ON TRAC The e-Pro Live looks like a real drumkit because it is a real drumkit. It has real wood shells, genuine Pearl hardware and fittings but crucially uses the new Tru-Trac Electronic Heads. What you get is a kit with great usable sizes – 10”x6.5”, 12”x7” and 14”x8” rack toms with a 20”x12” bass and 14”x4.5” snare with Tru-Trac heads in white to complete the look. The e-Pro Live comes with 2 great finishes – Jet Black for a classic look and my preference, Artisan II finish, Quilted Maple Fade. Furthermore, you can have real cymbals. Cymbals are the E-Classic range, which are made of brass and look the part. More traditional rubber EPC2 are also available. TWICE THE FUN As a real bonus, the e-Pro Live is actually two kits in one. The Tru-Trac heads can be removed and replaced with acoustic heads. So, should you wish, you can mix and match between acoustic and electronic. Pretty cool. The Tru-Trac heads feel great and get real size toms instead of mini pads so you don’t have to adjust your playing style. The heads are amazingly sensitive and pick up every single ghost note and even buzz rolls. You can adjust elements such as sensitivity and threshold in the module. The heads feel nice. There’s rebound for sure but a reasonable amount of give too to give a realistic feel that gives you confidence to lay into them. You actually have a Tru-Trac trigger mounted in the acoustic bass drum head too. You get the real feel and give of a normal bass drum. This is the best feeling electronic kick drum I’ve ever played. It felt natural immediately. The brain is called the r.e.d.box (Real Electronic Drums).
With 128mb of memory it’s loaded with 1000 high definition sounds and 100 preset kits – everything from standard kits to vintage, orchestral, world and electronic sounds. Every one of the 1000 sounds is editable and you can create 100 user defined drumkits. The levels of the drums are adjusted easily in real time via cool faders on the module and you have the option of layering more that one sound on top of each other should you wish. You also have a metronome and sequencer to record and play along with your iPod via the auxiliary inputs. THAT REAL FEEL The E-Classic cymbals are made of brass so they feel like real cymbals. The 16” ride cymbal has a 3-way trigger system for the bell, bow and crash sounds. Each of the cymbals sensitive to the lightest touch and are chokeable. The Hi-Hats are particularly nice to play instead of the standard rubber alternative. In a first for electronic drums, Pearl have introduced memory switch. This is where you can connect your r.e.d.box to your computer via USB and back up the entire memory to hard drive. Then, you are able to download and replace the entire memory of the module with one lush sounding drumkit created from some of Pearl’s partners including Toon Track, FXExpansion (BFD2), Steven Slate Drums and VDL:2 from the supported website (www. redboxsoundshop.com). These companies produce very high quality samples of real drums for use in recording and sequences and composers have used these sounds for years. By Adrian Violi RRP: $3399 (Plastic Cymbals), $3599 (Brass Cymbals) Distributor: Music Link Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.musiclink.com.au
ROCKTRON TRI-WAH The Gibson Explorer is a classic axe which has found its way into blues, rock, metal, alternative, thrash, even country rock. It’s a heavy instrument, both sonically and physically, and packed with mojo. Trev Wilkinson has turned his attention to this classic design and made a guitar which has enough of its own personality to be recognised as a Vintage guitar rather than a copy of a Gibson one, even though it’s not shy about its inspiration. Let’s take a closer look. MISTER POPLAR The Vintage VXP6BK’s body is made of Eastern Poplar. Poplar is an interesting wood: sometimes it’s used on budget-priced guitars to keep the cost down - especially on larger-bodied axes in wild shapes - but it’s also used in some premium instruments by builders like Buddy Blaze and Ernie Ball Music Man, whose longstanding Steve Morse model uses this wood. The set neck is made of Hard Maple with a Rosewood fretboard featuring 22 frets. The scale length is 24.75” (that’s 628mm to you and me). The tuners are Wilkinson Deluxe WJ44 models with super-green buttons. I get that they’re going for an aged vintage look but these buttons look almost Ghostbuster green in certain lighting conditions. The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic style unit with matching tailpiece, and the pickups are a pair of Wilkinson humbuckers with goldplated covers: a WHHBN in the neck position and a WHHBB at the bridge. They appear to be PAF-inspired, and the bridge pickup seems to be wound a little hotter than the neck for better tonal balance. Controls are a pair of volumes (one for each pickup) and a master tone. The first thing I noticed about the VXP6BK is that it’s heavy. Sometimes Explorer-style guitars are deceptively light, but not this one. The weighty body offsets the tendency of some Explorer-type axes to be neck-heavy
PG. 52 MIXDOWN NO. 220
SCORE A TRI Aimed as a ‘multifunction wah with extremely useful and musical features’ the Tri Wah has a three position selector switch with settings for Normal, Classic and Bass. Altering certain frequencies the Classic setting works on a more vintage style whilst the Bass setting adjusts to suit instruments with lower tunings (Bass guitar and even 7 string or lower tuned guitars). The premise sounds good, let’s hear it in action....
though, so that’s a good thing. POWER CHORD IN 3…2…1 I plugged this behemoth into my Marshall DSL50 and chugged out some power chords. Compared to some other Explorer-inspired axes I’ve played, this one is very dark-sounding, almost woolly. There’s a huge amount of bottom end, muted highs and a big fat midrange. This makes it a fairly dominating-sounding guitar, which is great for single-guitar bands, and it’s especially well suited to stoner rock/metal styles. It really hits fuzz pedals with a wallop and it sounds fat and full for palm-muted chugs. It’s also well suited to the blues, especially when you use the neck pickup, which sounds almost ‘flutey,’ with limited pick attack but plenty of body and sustain. The clean sounds are a bit muffled though, lacking the high end detail required to make this a go-to clean axe. CHUNKY MONKEY The VXP6BK is certainly not the brightest-sounding axe in the Vintage range, nor the easiest to wrangle (due to its size and weight) but it packs plenty of attitude and tone into its hulking frame, and its sonic qualities are very well suited to particular tones - particularly chunky dark metal and fat blues - in a way that you just don’t get with ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ guitars. By Peter Hodgson
RRP: $499 Distributor: National Audio Systems Phone: (03) 9761 5577 Website: www.nationalaudio.com.au
AUGUST 2012
Wah has to be one of the most recognisable guitar effects. Hendrix, Clapton, Page, SRV are just a few players who have at one time or another stepped on a Wah pedal to get that voice type, throaty quack sound. Furthermore it’s an effect that pops up in a range of styles from shaft styled funk rhythms to metal shred solos and dirty blues riffs. Whilst the Wah pedal has remained a constant on guitar pedal boards for years developments in builds, design and manufacturing have led to plenty more kinds of wah pedals on the market with plenty more options available. Part of the Rocktron wah brigade is the Tri-Wah, a pedal with three voicings for those times when one isn’t enough. THREE’S COMPANY Rocktron have gone for the age old favourite ‘Vox Organ volume pedal’ type looking wah pedal in a black casing with black rubber tread. Solid and tough it’s as easy as input/output, and 9v input and the 3 way dial for Normal, Classic and Bass settings. I love the fact that this wah gets stood on (literally) never complains and typically seems to always work no matter what kind of abuse you throw at it. When rocking back and forth, both slow and fast, it seemed smooth and sturdy. You can also alter the tension of the wah if needs be and it’s good to note that brand new wahs will loosen up a little as you play them in and the cogs and lube relax things a little.
PEDAL POWER On the Normal setting you have a throaty quack with a good range and not too bright at full toe down position. Working as a slightly smoother, modern sort of sound Normal does both dirty and clean tones and would suit anything from funk through to metal. Classic then sounds a little more vintage with maybe a slightly lesser sweep but a different voiced quack that gives you old school funky tones. I can see the potential of both settings and dig the fact that you then have two to choose from for a little more scope if your wah needs change from gig to gig. Now a pleasant surprise from the Bass setting is that yes it works with bass guitar and seems to hit the right frequencies so you’re not left wanting more from a guitar specific pedal but also that it eats up the low end of a seven string or drop tuned guitar - great for metal, indie, prog rock, arty types that come from the ‘lower the better’ school of guitar tuning. A mix of settings, built tough and all at a good price – sweet! By Nick Brown RRP: $149.99 Distributor: Music Link Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.musiclink.com.au
TC HELICON MP-75 DYNAMIC MICROPHONE
LAG TRAMONTANE T66A ACOUSTIC GUITAR the grain. The body is 110mm thick at the bottom and 90mm at the neck, while black and ivory binding gives the guitar a classy but not too gaudy look. The Occitania cross which forms part of the rosette might be an acquired taste for some, and it’s hard to see from a distance, but it certainly helps to give the guitar some extra visual pop, which is handy since there are no inlays on the fretboard face, only side dots to help you find your way.
more than that too. What seemingly appeared to be an On/Off switch on the microphone’s handle, at first glance, turns out to be a whole lot more. Obviously TC Helicon is known for their effects units and they have produced a wide range of devices for use with not only vocal but guitar processing applications over the years. So, what can the MP-75 offer the user in conjunction with these units that any other microphone can’t? Control. That seemingly innocent switch actually works as a control device for a range of TC Helicon processors, allowing you to initiate the effect by pressing the button whenever desired. This is going to be a great option for vocalists who don’t want to constantly be looking at pedals and stomping on switches like the guitarist next to them on stage, but would rather have the ability to subtly initiate their effects from one device; the one already in their hand. This is done by using the third pin of the XLR cable which is usually defunct with dynamic microphones as phantom power is not required, so TC Helicon have made very good use of it. A free firmware upgrade is required to get your effects unit ready to work with the microphone, but that is all it takes. Then you have your effects in the palm of your hand.
Does the world really need yet another vocal microphone? The design team at TC Helicon asked just that question and decided that what the world needed was just one really good one. It sounds like a marketing department’s spin and is printed on the box of the MP-75, but it got my attention and made me wonder just what the team at TC Helicon were going to come up with to enter a market that is already awash with far too many different handheld vocal microphones. I’ll admit, I was sceptical at first, but I soon warmed to the idea behind the MP-75 as I discovered what it was actually capable of.
MORE THAN JUST A CONTROLLER Obviously, the microphone itself deserves a look in. As always, I had this unit pulled apart the moment it was out of the case. A bad habit I have when I get my hand on a new microphone. The internal construction is brilliant. The capsule has one of the best suspension mounts I have seen, offering superior control against handling noise. The response of the microphone is rich and vibrant, with a clear top and a well rounded low range, making it suitable for a range of vocal uses. Its cardioid pattern offers good side rejection and the capsule is well protected against plosives and sibilant sounds. All in all, it is a good microphone. But, beyond that, it is an excellent tool for the singer who wants to use their own TC Helicon effects. By Rob Gee
RRP: $199
MASTER OF CEREMONIES So yes, this is a handheld dynamic vocal microphone. We are all in agreement with that. But it is a little
Distributor : Amber Technology Phone: 1800 251 367 Website: www.ambertech.com.au
RICH MAHOGANY The neck is also Mahogany with a French Satin finish, as is the headstock. The fretboard is Indonesian Rosewood with a rather flat 400mm (around 15”) radius, and there are 20 Silver-Nickel medium frets. The tuners are lubricated high-precision satin black models with satin black tulip buttons. They turn nicely and they complement the rosette quite well. Fretwork is completed to a very high standard. SMOOTH BLEND The T66A sounds smooth and gentle. This isn’t a hard-edged strummer for country-rock or anything like that. Rather it draws attention to itself by not drawing attention to itself. No one frequency seems to jump out at your ear, and the high end is relatively restrained. It sounds great if you like to strum with your fingers instead of a pick, while picks or nails add a little bit of treble to the sound but still not a huge amount. It’s a great guitar for accompanying vocals, blending with pianos or sitting within an ensemble, and also quite a nice lead guitar for acoustic jazz. It’s also well suited to jazzy chording, again because the sound is more unified rather than strident.
The Tramontane T66A is part of LAG’s Tramontane Standard range, distinguished by their deep gloss finish and bolt black and ivory rosette work. They’re pretty guitars, to be sure, but they also bare the benefits of decades of refinement. The T66A is an Auditorium shape, more rounded than a Dreadnaught and with different tonal qualities. MOJO RISING The T66A’s sonic mojo starts with Mahogany back and sides. The hue is nice and caramelly, and is offset by a Spruce top with just a hint of character to
The T66A doesn’t aim to be a jangly, percussive, aggressive instrument. It looks to find a home in gentler hands and more delicate sonic settings. It plays very nicely, especially thanks to that brilliant fretwork, and it looks distinctive and classy. But what’s really going to sell this guitar is the sheer musicality and ear-friendliness of its tone. By Peter Hodgson RRP: $299 Distributor: Australasian Music Supplies Phone: (03) 9549 1500 Website: www.austmusic.com.au
SWEAT AND TEARS, YES. BUT ABSOLUTELY NO BLEEDING. Chris Robinson / The Black Crowes www.blackcrowes.com
SHURE BETA MICROPHONES Optimised for high sound pressure levels, extremely low handling noise and higher gain-before-feedback. Accurate, focused polar patterns. Virtually indestructible. Precision control to practically eliminate bleed. Because the show with perfect conditions is rare. But every performance should be one to remember.
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NO. 220 MIXDOWN PG. 53
LAG TRAMONTANE T100D rosette (with Occitania cross) and a solid Indian Rosewood headstock face which is oiled rather than lacquered. There are no fretboard inlays apart from side dots, but the combination of the binding, the rosette cross and the sculpted headstock face keep things from looking dull. The bridge is Indian Rosewood, matching the headstock face, with a black resin compensated saddle and black string pins.
TC ELECTRONIC SPARK BOOSTER BOOST JUICE I plugged my Gibson Les Paul Traditional into the Spark Booster and introduced it to my Marshall. First I dialled in an absolutely clean, unprocessed sound to give my ears a frame of reference - essentially using it as a line driver. No problems here! It’s perfectly transparent. Turning up the Level shifts the Spark into becoming a clean boost to drive the preamp tubes harder, and this really let my Les Paul scream despite its low-output vintage-style humbuckers. In fact, those ‘buckers are pretty low on bass, so I added some wallop in via the Bass control and it sounded big and crunchy. Flipping the switch to Fat achieved a similar effect but with more body across the lower mids as well, and a case could be made for using either method. The Fat setting was especially good for adding some “Texas Flood” tone to my Strat, especially with the Gain knob turned up, where it starts to add a little breakup and light compression.
Many years ago TC Electronic released the Booster + Line Driver & Distortion. This classic pedal did all sorts of things and was favoured by players from Allan Holdsworth to Anthrax’s Scott Ian to add some oomph to their tone. The Spark Booster is the next evolution of that pedal, and while on the surface it appears to offer some of the same features, inside it’s a different beast. YOU COULD USE A BOOST The Spark is several pedals in one, depending on how you use it. It can be a line driver (much like a buffer), adding back what long cable runs take out. It can be a clean boost (up to 26dB), giving extra kick to your amp’s input section so it generates extra preamp gain. It can be an overdrive. It can be a tone sculptor. It can fatten up single coils or take excess weight out of humbuckers. It does all this via four knobs (Gain, Level, Bass and Treble) and a three-way switch (Fat/Clean/Mid). It’s true bypass, it operates on 9v DC power supply or battery, and it has a small pedalboard footprint, especially compared to the Booster + Line Driver & Distortion.
The real superstar though is the Mid setting. This mode gooses this crucial range by just enough to create a vocal, expressive lead sound. Tailor it further by using the Gain knob for more dirt or the Level to make your amp work for it, then sculpt the top and bottom with the Bass and Treble controls, and very soon you’ll find a stockpile of fat lead sounds from Satriani to Fripp. It really is a deceptively flexible tone machine, a veritable mothership of tone and gain. CAN’T START A FIRE WITHOUT A SPARK TC Electronic has given us all sorts of cool innovations in recent years, including the PolyTune series, which gives you a tuning readout of all six strings simultaneously, and the TonePrint pedals, which let you beam artist presets to it via your phone. The Spark Booster doesn’t claim to be a technological marvel like those two breakthroughs, but it’s just as impressive. By Peter Hodgson
RRP: $229 Distributor : Amber Technology
FINGERPICKIN’ GOOD There are 20 Silver-Nickel medium frets, and the fretboard radius is a relatively flat 400mm (just over 15”). The fretwork is exceptional, putting to shame even some guitars that cost four times as much. The guitar comes stringed with Elixir Nanoweb 11-52 gauge coated strings. The Tramontane T100D is a very lively-sounding guitar with a very musical sustain profile - it doesn’t ring out forever, but sustained notes and chords hang gently in the air until it’s time for them to fade away. The note separation and string balance is gorgeous, which makes this a really great fingerpickers’ guitar, whether you use finger picks, your nails or bare fingertips. There’s a beautiful graininess to the high end which gives everything a subtle shimmer and a feeling of depth and air, and this translates whether you’re playing single notes or chords, strumming or arpeggiating.
France’s LAG guitars seem to have risen out of nowhere but the company has a rich history that goes back decades: it’s just that now they have a bigger distribution network and a diverse range of endorsers including Motorhead’s Phil Campbell and bluesy rocker Richie Kotzen. WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE The Tramontane T100D has a back and sides made from Dark Mahogany, with a Solid Red Cedar top, Mahogany neck with Indian Rosewood fretboard, and some nice visual touches to tie it all together, including Mahogany, Maple and black binding and
Phone: 1800 251 367
By Nick Brown RRP: $850 Distributor: Intermusic Distribution
HAMMER TIME From deep bass low end rumblings to more pronounced top end and then a serious range in
PG. 54 MIXDOWN NO. 220
Phone: (03) 9765 6565 Website: www.imd.com.au
AUGUST 2012
Distributor: Australasian Music Supplies Phone: (03) 9549 1500 Website: www.austmusic.com.au
ACE OF SPADES The neck is made of Mahogany with a French satin finish, while the fretboard is Indian Rosewood with a subtle red hue which matches the body colour quite nicely. There are no inlays on the fretboard playing surface but there are easy-to-see side dots to help you find your way. The neck has 20 SilverNickel medium frets and a flat-feeling 400mm fretboard radius. The bridge and headstock face are also Indonesian Rosewood, but darker than that used for the fretboard. The bridge is a black resin compensated saddle, while hiding underneath is a Shadow Nanoflex piezo system. There’s a handy StudioLag System for sculpting of the electric tone, offering a volume control and a five-position tone switch, as well as a low-battery indicator light. The presets on the tone switch can’t be altered but they’re all carefully voiced to give you different takes on particular acoustic tones you may need onstage or in the studio, including brighter, strummier settings as well as deeper, fuller ones for soloing, and in-between ones which are great for unaccompanied fingerstyle playing.
between (honky low mids or jangly brighter tones) the Tone Hammer 350 works through a heap of usable sounds and still retains that Aguilar feel of power and projection. The EQ section is flexible but can be as easy as setting and forgetting too with the Drive and Gain controls working nicely to either add volume or some bite if needed. Vintage guys can balance these controls and then dial in some bass and target the mid frequencies to really honk it up whilst the hi-fi guys will like the super clean and quiet performance with punchy mids and top end. I really get the feeling you are getting the Tone Hammer 500 tone and performance in a smaller unit rather than a watered down version. ALL THE SMALL THINGS I love the fact that small, light and portable doesn’t mean a sacrifice in tone! There are so many uses for something this size (and we’re still talking decent sized gigs too) thanks to its portability but this isn’t a gimmick or toy – I’d be more than happy to run this on smaller/medium sized gigs knowing that I’ve got a toneful EQ section, plenty of headroom and pro features backed by Aguilar’s sizable reputation. Another winner here in the form of the Tone Hammer 350!
RRP: $499
the body, and the review guitar is finished in a tasty Brown Shadow finish. Natural and black finishes are also available.
AGUILAR TONE HAMMER 350
350 With 350 watts into 4 ohms this little brother to the 500 is super small at around 21cm x 19cm x 7cm and weighs only 1.5 kilos. Seriously, this can fit in your backpack, leads bag or possibly your gig bag meaning it’s easy to carry round and can fit into the smallest of setups if room is a problem. Assembled in the same New York City factory that looks after the famed DB and AG range, you get the feeling that despite its small size the Tone Hammer 350 is made to be gigged and made to last. With solid casing and parts. Aesthetically, I dig the round top edges and control layout. Like the 500 you get a -10dB button, Gain, Drive, Mid Level, Mid Freq, Bass, Treble and Master controls, an XLR line out with a Post/Pre push button for choosing EQ when DIing, ground lift button and a Operate/Mute button for standby type situations. On the back you have a Speaker Out and Tuner Out. You’ll find yourself covered for most situations here and again, this is a 350 watt head in a case the size of a box of chocolates – killer!
By Peter Hodgson
LAG TRAMONTANE T100ACE-BRS
Website: www.ambertech.com.au
A few months back I reviewed the Tone Hammer 500 from Aguilar’s newest line of amps and was way impressed. Based on their successful Tone Hammer Preamp/Direct Box pedal which in turn took its cues from their OBP-3 preamp this amp really took hold of tone shaping and power in a small unit and felt and sounded great. Well, they’ve now added to that range with the 350 in an even smaller casing.
The action as set at the factory is around medium height, and it might be a little high for those who like to explore the middle of the fretboard, but that’s an easy fix for any competent tech or music store. The fretwork is so good that you’ll still want to wander all over the neck, and this supports extended playing sessions. The Tramontane T100D doesn’t have any electronics but it has something better: a great acoustic sound that will record well, and playability that will make you want to strum it for hours on end.
NECK MINUTE The playability is great and you’ll definitely feel like using all of the neck, even up to the widdly end with the cutaway. Plug it in though and the guitar comes alive. The various StudioLag presets are very thoughtfully voiced and musical, and they add the sparkle and depth that’s missing from the unplugged sound. In fact, the preamp probably wouldn’t do its job this well if the guitar itself had different frequencies spiking up all over the place.
The LAG Tramontane T100ACE-BRS takes some design cues from its Auditorium brother the T66A, but it’s pimped out with some additional bells and whistles to make it both more visually appealing and more sonically flexible. TASTY FINISH The T100ACE-BRS is still an Auditorium shape, but it features a treble side cutaway for improved upper fret access. The back and sides are Dark Mahogany, while the top is solid Red Cedar. There’s attractive Mahogany/Maple/black binding around the edge of
The T100ACE-BRS is a nicely built guitar with great fretwork, and a very usable amplified voice. If you’re after a guitar to strum around the house and you have no need for amplification, consider the T66A instead or one of many other LAG models. But if you need something you can plug in onstage or in the studio and instantly get a very usable, audienceready sound and with great playability, and you’re on a budget, the T100ACE-BRS is ideal. By Peter Hodgson RRP: $699 Distributor: Australasian Music Supplies Phone: (03) 9549 1500 Website: www.austmusic.com.au
Extreme Edition is a limited release version of VoiceLive 2 that pushes the product to the max on quality and features.
▸ Exclusive Design ▸ Enhanced Mic Pre amp ▸ Double the looping memory. ▸ Special Extreme Edition presets avail able via VoiceSupport. ▸ Limited Edition: Only Limited Quantity available
Available from select authorised TC Helicon Resellers
For your nearest dealer call 1 800 251 367 www.tc-helicon.com/voicelive-2-extreme Proudly represented in Australia by Amber Technology www.ambertech.com.au
PG. 56 MIXDOWN NO. 220
AUGUST 2012